Gumshad Ali of Sindh abducts 10-year-old Hindu girl at gunpoint, forcibly converts and marries her
Sanghar, Sindh, Pakistan 
3 July, 2024
Case Summary
In Goth Bhatiyani, near Khipro in Sanghar District, Sindh, Pakistan, a ten-year-old Hindu girl named Jamuna, daughter of a local labourer Channu Kohli, was abducted from her home on July 4, 2024. The accused, Gumshad Ali, son of Mohammad Ismail Halepoto, a local Muslim landowner, entered the victim's home and kidnapped her at gunpoint. After the abduction, Jamuna was taken to Mirpur Goth, where she was forcibly converted to Islam and married to her abductor. The conversion and marriage were conducted by a local religious leader, about ten days before the incident became known.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The category under which this case has been placed is- Predatory Proselytisation. Under this category, the sub-category chosen 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. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted would be documented in another sub-category. 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. In this case, the Hindu minor girl was abducted at gunpoint and kept in confinement. This itself is a severe form of intimidation. Then she was forcibly converted to Islam and married to her abductor. The purpose behind the harassment was to coerce the victim to abandon her faith and accept Islam. The underlying motivation of predatory proselytisation itself is animosity towards the professed faith of the victim. Since the central aim of the perpetrators was to disenfranchise the Hindu girl from her professed faith and the central motivation in this case is religion, it has been added as a hate crime.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
