Just 15 kilometers from Bihar’s capital city Patna, Rashtra Jyoti conducted a field investigation into an illegal religious conversion racket that had entered the village disguised as a coaching center, targeting the most vulnerable sections of society, until local Dalits united to put an end to it.
The Incident
The case unfolded in Ward No. 5 of Kannauji village, under the jurisdiction of Gopalpur police station in Patna district.
As per locals, Sushma Kumari, a resident of Rajgir city in Bihar’s Nalanda district, rented a house belonging to Sanjay Kumar “two-three years ago”. Introducing herself as a “social worker”, she gradually became a familiar presence in the locality.
By 2024, Sushma had constructed a hall-like structure on the rented premises, claiming it was a center to provide free education to children. She began attracting children from the nearby Musahar community, a Scheduled Caste group living in extreme poverty.
Kannauji village is home to Yadav, Mallah, Kurmi and Harijan communities, predominantly from Musahar jaati. The Musahar settlement looks the most backward and underdeveloped of all.
Abhishek Kumar, a local child living near the centre, told the Rashtra Jyoti reporter that Christian worship was regularly conducted at the premises. “Whenever we held the pooja of Bhole Baba at our home, they [centre managers] would make strange noises and chant ‘Hallelujah’ to distract us,” he said, and added, “They claimed they could drive away evil spirits.”
Manish Kumar Manjhi, another resident, recounted to Rashtra Jyoti: “They rented a place here and taught the children that the gods we worship are not our true gods. They said our true god is Yesu Ji [Jesus]. They made the children chant ‘Hallelujah’ every morning and evening, and forbade them from saying ‘Jai Vishwakarma’. Instead, they were told to chant ‘Jai Yesu’.”
He added that children were told to tell their mothers not to wear bangles and sindoor.
Locals said that by 2024, Sushma had three associates living with her, for taking such classes. Bhushan Manjhi, another resident, said that the group would compel children to say ‘Amen’ as a greeting, and imposed strict instructions on them: no chanting of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ or taking the names of Hindu deities. Instead, the children were told “Jesus is everything” and that Mahadev and Hanuman were “false and imaginary”.
Community’s Stand and Police Action
Two months ago in May, Deepak Kumar, a young man from the village, mobilised fellow Dalits to oppose the illegal conversion racket. Their protest prompted police intervention.
In response to a complaint filed by Deepak and Vishwas Kumar, police arrived at the site and registered a first information report (FIR No. 208/2025) at the Gopalpur police station on 18 May.
According to the statement in the FIR, illegal religious activities were being carried out in a house in Ward No. 5 of Kannauji village. It had been happening for almost two years, but whenever villagers opposed it, the occupants resorted to quarrelling, physical assault, and even issued death threats. When the matter was reported to the house owner, he responded by saying – “What business is it of yours?”
This statement names Sushma Kumari as the the main organizer of illegal conversions and Rekha Kumari, Sita Kumari and Ashish Kumar as her accomplice.
Sushma Kumari and three of her accomplices were booked under Sections 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 302 (deliberately wounding the religious feelings of any person) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and subsequently arrested.
Bihar does not have an anti-forced conversion law yet.
As detailed in the seizure memo prepared by the police, officers recovered Bible and other religious paraphernalia from the premises.
The current situation
Calls made by Rashtra Jyoti to Gopalpur thana, on the contact number provided on the Bihar police’s website, constantly showed the number was switched off or out of range. So it is not yet clear if the arrested accused are out on bail.
The visit to the village confirmed that the centre is no more operational. Residents have driven the conversion racket away.
