Hindu man, along with two minor daughters, pressured for religious conversion by his Christian wife in Shivamogga, Karnataka

Case ID : d32762b | Location : Shimoga, Karnataka, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 6 February, 2015

Case ID : d32762b

Shimoga, Karnataka, India

6 February, 2015

Hindu man, along with two minor daughters, pressured for religious conversion by his Christian wife in Shivamogga, Karnataka

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In Bhadravati town of Shivamogga district, Karnataka, a Hindu man named B. Vinay, along with his two minor daughters were pressured for religious conversion by his Christian wife named Priyatha. According to reports, the Hindu man, B. Vinay, a resident of Bommanakkatte, had married Priyatha R. in 2011, when she was a Hindu, and the couple had two daughters, Yogya (14) and Manojya (8). The marital relationship was initially stable, but began deteriorating after 2015 when Priyatha joined a private international school in Shivamogga as a teacher. During this time, she developed close contact with her Christian colleague named Maria Priyadarshini, after which she converted to Christianity. Gradually, Priyatha began to withdraw from Hindu religious practices, regularly attended church, kept and read the Bible at home, prayed daily, and made monthly religious contributions. Vinay stated that she repeatedly insisted that he and the minor children should also adopt Christianity. She began pressuring her minor daughter, Yogya, to convert, leading to frequent disputes within the household. In 2019, Priyatha left for her parental home but returned in 2020 following mediation for the sake of the children. However, she again started pressuring her husband and minor children to convert to Christianity. In 2025, she left the matrimonial home again after stating that she would return only if Vinay and the children agreed to convert, resulting in the family’s separation. Subsequently, Vinay approached the Paper Town Police Station, stating that his wife’s religious conversion had led to sustained pressure on him and their minor children to abandon Hinduism. He also stated that the sustained coercion had disrupted family life and affected the mental well-being of both him and the children. It was later reported that the school management terminated the employment of both Priyatha and Maria following the incident.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories under it are: Conversion of minor. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting, regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to the existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. The other sub-category selected here is - Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu man named B. Vinay, along with his two minor daughters were pressured for religious conversion by his Christian wife, Priyatha. Firstly, Priyatha attempted to force her Hindu husband and minor children to renounce their religion and convert to Christianity. Pressuring Hindu individuals to discard their religious faith and embrace another was a direct attack on their religious identity and dignity. It was not a matter of personal choice; it was coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity. Such an attempt reflects religious animosity because the act was not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Secondly, the daughters, Yogya (14) and Manojya (8), were minors when they were pressured for conversion, which means the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Minors, due to their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion, and the Christian perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Such acts are not merely criminal in nature; they are ideologically charged, revealing religious prejudice and a calculated intent to alter the religious identity of a minor without her volition. Thirdly, Priyatha also emotionally manipulated her husband and children for conversion. By repeatedly leaving the matrimonial home and conditioning her return on her husband’s and children’s acceptance of Christianity, she used abandonment as a coercive tool to force compliance. Simultaneously, the persistent recitation of Biblical prayers and overt Christian worship within the household functioned as a means of religious dominance, creating an environment of constant pressure on the Hindu family members to convert. It was also an attempt and gradually exposing them to Christian religious beliefs. This conduct demonstrated a deliberate strategy to normalise and impose a new religious identity while marginalising and destabilising the victims’ Hindu faith. Taken together, the sustained pressure on a Hindu man and his minor daughters to renounce their faith, the deliberate targeting of children, and the use of emotional manipulation and familial coercion to impose a new religious identity demonstrated a clear pattern of religiously motivated persecution. These actions were directed at erasing the victims’ Hindu identity through sustained psychological and ideological pressure rather than personal choice. Thus, this case was added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, though it is mentioned that the conversion pressure began in 2015. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date, 7 February 2015, a placeholder to represent the beginning conversion pressure. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 7 February 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.