Hindu minor girl sexually harassed, blackmailed with photo leak to pressure her into conversion in Madhya Pradesh
Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh, India 
16 April, 2025
Case Summary
A Hindu minor girl in Shahpur, Burhanpur district, Madhya Pradesh, was targeted by a Muslim man who befriended her on social media and later blackmailed her while pressuring her to convert to Islam. She was manipulated through online interaction and then subjected to threats and coercion. The situation escalated over time and caused fear and distress for the Hindu minor girl and her family. In April 2025, a Muslim man named Arshad contacted the Hindu minor girl on Snapchat and later continued conversations on Instagram. The communication began casually but gradually turned into persistent attempts to meet in person. Over time, he built familiarity and trust through regular messaging. In July 2026, the Hindu minor girl met the perpetrator for the first time at a hotel in Burhanpur. Following this, she was taken to cafes and other locations for repeated meetings. During one such meeting, the perpetrator took a selfie with his arm around her and engaged in inappropriate physical contact. The image taken during this meeting was later used to threaten the Hindu minor girl. The perpetrator warned her that he would circulate the photo if she refused to meet him again. He repeatedly pressured her to continue meeting him and proposed that they elope and marry, while also insisting that she convert her religion. Despite her refusal, the pressure and threats continued. The Hindu minor girl was repeatedly called to meet the perpetrator under the threat of the image being made public. Under fear and coercion, she left her home without informing her family to meet him near a garden. While waiting for the perpetrator, she was spotted by a relative, who then informed the family. Her family members reached the location and brought her back home safely. The Hindu minor girl then disclosed the full sequence of events, including the blackmail, inappropriate conduct, and pressure to convert her religion. A written complaint was submitted by the family of the Hindu minor girl at Shahpur police station. A formal First Information Report was registered against Arshad under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act, and the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 2021. The perpetrator remained at large, and police initiated efforts to trace and arrest him. Statements of the victim and her family were recorded, and digital evidence was examined as part of the investigation. The police began tracking the perpetrator’s location and continued efforts to apprehend him. The case remained under active investigation at the time of documentation.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category - Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories selected under this are - Family claims grooming, Rape and sexual assault/harassment, and 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 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 subcategory selected in this case 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. The second primary category selected is- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected within this is- Blackmailed to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The other subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or groomed. Within this, the tertiary categories selected are- rape and/or sexual assault, conversion of minor, and family claims grooming. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. This case qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime because a Muslim man targeted a Hindu minor girl through grooming, sexual misconduct, and coercion linked to religious conversion. The victim was subjected to manipulation, intimidation, and threats designed to force a change in her religious identity. The abuse combined sexual exploitation with sustained pressure to convert. Religion was central to both the method of control and the intended outcome. The perpetrator initiated contact with the Hindu minor girl through social media and gradually built familiarity. This was significant because it showed a deliberate grooming process designed to lower the victim’s guard. The relationship was not incidental but carefully developed over time. This enabled the perpetrator to target her with increasing control and influence. The perpetrator then engaged in inappropriate physical behaviour and took photographs without the victim’s consent. This was significant because these images became tools for coercion. The act transformed a moment of misconduct into a mechanism of sustained control. This specifically targeted the Hindu minor girl by placing her under the fear of social exposure. The perpetrator threatened to circulate these images to force continued interaction and conversion. This act goes beyond mere criminal behaviour; it is a calculated and malicious attack on her religious identity. The use of blackmail to force conversion is a clear demonstration of religious hate, as it targets the victim's religious beliefs and seeks to erase her identity. This case is a glaring example of how deep-seated intolerance can manifest in violent and coercive actions, with the ultimate goal of religious subjugation and domination. The deliberate nature of the deception and the subsequent attempt to force conversion highlight the extent of disdain the accused harboured for the victim's faith. The perpetrator introduced the idea of marriage along with pressure to convert religions. This was significant because it linked personal safety and future stability to the abandonment of her Hindu identity. The coercion was not isolated but directed towards altering her religious identity. This demonstrated that the victim was targeted specifically as a Hindu. The victim’s refusal did not end the pressure, and the perpetrator continued to insist on meetings and compliance. This was significant because it showed sustained coercion despite clear resistance. The repeated intimidation reinforced the imbalance of power. This ensured that the Hindu minor girl remained under constant psychological pressure. What makes this incident even more egregious is the fact that the Hindu victim was a minor, indicating a lack of consent and a genuine change of conscience. It is a well-established fact that children are more susceptible to manipulation since they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully mature, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Moreover, subtle manipulation tactics can be difficult to detect, especially when employed by trusted people. This makes it challenging for parents to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. Consequently, cases involving religious manipulation of minors not only represent an infringement on an individual's religious freedom but also demonstrate a calculated strategy of targeting those who are less able to resist or understand the long-term implications of conversion, making it a significant case of religiously motivated hate crime. Given that this case met the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it was added to the hate crime database of the tracker. Disclaimer: The tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurred, not when it was reported. In this case, the exact date of the incident was not specified, though the events began in April 2025. Additionally, the news made it to the media on February 17, 2026. Since only the beginning month and year are mentioned, not the date, 17th, the day it was reported in the media has been used as the documentation date, while April 2025 has been used as the month and year, based on when the ordeal began. This has been recorded for documentation purposes only.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 1
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
