Minor Hindu students subjected to sustained religious targeting, forced to recite Islamic prayers, and pressured to convert to Islam by Muslim school teachers
Kaushambi District, Uttar Pradesh, India 
18 May, 2026
Case Summary
In Sirathu, Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh, Hindu schoolgirls were subjected to sustained religious targeting, being forced to recite Islamic prayers, and pressured to convert to Islam by their Muslim school teachers. According to the complaints filed by students, family members, and Hindu organisations, Hindu girls studying at the Government Girls Inter College in Sirathu, Kaushambi, were compelled to participate in Islamic prayers despite not studying Urdu as a subject. Hindu students stated that they were made to recite the prayer “Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua” during school assemblies alongside Muslim students. Several students further stated that outsider Muslim men frequently visited the school premises under various pretexts and loitered near the school gate during dismissal hours. These Muslim men were permitted repeated access to the campus where they stalked female students, made lewd comments, and gathered personal information about Hindu girls. Students also stated that the Urdu teacher, identified as Shaista Noor, permitted such individuals to enter the school environment and interact with female students, especially Hindu girls. The issue escalated after complaints were submitted on 19 May 2026 by students, family members, ABVP activists, and members of Kesariya Hindu Vahini. Antara Kesarwani, district co-minister of ABVP, stated that Muslim boys who were not enrolled at the school regularly gathered information about Hindu girls and circulated their contact details among themselves. The complaint further stated that some hostel students were being mentally influenced and harassed for religious conversion to Islam. Ramendra Kumar Mishra, district president of Kesariya Hindu Vahini, informed the police that he observed behavioural changes in his daughter, a Class 10 student at the same school, over the preceding two months, after which the family discovered that she and other students had been subjected to sustained brainwashing and indoctrination for religious conversion. Following the complaints, Saini police registered an FIR on 23 May 2026 against Urdu teacher Shaista Noor, spokesperson Zareen Shaukat, Mohammad Irfan, and unidentified individuals under multiple sections connected to religious conversion, harassment, and misconduct. The police initiated an investigation and began recording the statements of students. District Inspector of Schools Rajesh Kumar conducted an inspection of the institution, interacted with students, and reviewed the school premises, including CCTV arrangements. Soon after the controversy surfaced, Shaista Noor was transferred to another school by the education department. Authorities also introduced stricter entry regulations at the school gate by placing a register to document the identity and details of every visitor entering the campus. Statements issued by district officials emphasised that any misconduct involving schoolgirls would invite strict action if confirmed during the investigation.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Predatory Proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with the tertiary category being - 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 proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. The other sub-category selected 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 included in the Hinduphobia Tracker because it involved the systematic targeting of Hindu schoolgirls within a government school through religious pressure, ideological influence, and coordinated attempts to expose them to grooming and conversion networks by Muslim individuals. Hindu girls at the Government Girls Inter College in Sirathu, Kaushambi, were subjected to sustained religious targeting by Muslim teachers and outsiders who attempted to influence their beliefs, impose Islamic practices upon them, and isolate them within an environment where their Hindu identity was undermined. Firstly, it is important to note that several of the victims in this case were school-going minor girls, including a Class 10 student whose family filed the complaint. Since the victims were minors, this 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 susceptible to manipulation, psychological pressure, and coercive influence. The Muslim perpetrators exploited their position of authority and institutional access to expose Hindu schoolgirls to sustained religious conditioning, Islamic prayers, and targeted interaction with outsider Muslim men. Since the case involved the use of manipulation, ideological influence, and grooming-like behaviour directed at minor Hindu girls for the purpose of religious conversion and identity transformation, it reflected a clear manifestation of religiously motivated targeting. Such acts were not merely instances of misconduct within an educational institution; they reflected an ideologically driven attempt to alter the religious identity of vulnerable Hindu minors through sustained exposure, influence, and psychological conditioning. The use of grooming tactics, including cultivating familiarity, gathering personal information, repeated interaction, and creating religious pressure within the school environment, demonstrated a calculated effort to exploit the vulnerability and dependence of young Hindu girls placed under the supervision of school authorities. In this context, the testimony of the students and their families carried considerable importance, particularly because behavioural changes observed by parents over an extended period formed a central basis for the complaints eventually filed before the police. Secondly, one of the clearest indicators of religious targeting in this case was the forcing of Hindu students to participate in Islamic prayers. Hindu students stated that they were made to recite the Islamic prayer “Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua” during school assemblies alongside Muslim students. Such actions represented more than a routine cultural exercise; they reflected an attempt to normalise Islamic religious practices and impose them upon Hindu students irrespective of their own faith. By compelling Hindu girls to repeatedly participate in explicitly Islamic prayers, the Muslim perpetrators created an environment where Islamic religious expression was elevated while Hindu religious identity was marginalised. This imposition of Islamic prayers and Urdu religious instruction was significant because it occurred in a context where Hindu girls were already vulnerable to sustained ideological influence. The complaints submitted by students and families suggested that the process was not limited to language instruction but extended into attempts at religious indoctrination aimed at weakening the students’ attachment to their Hindu identity. It was done in an effort to make Hindu students more susceptible to religious conversion. Thirdly, Muslim men, from outside the school, regularly entered the school premises under various pretexts and loitered near the school gates during dismissal hours. Students stated that these individuals stalked Hindu girls, made lewd comments towards them, and gathered personal information such as contact details, which were then circulated among themselves. These outsider men were permitted repeated access to the campus by the Urdu teacher, Shaista Noor, who facilitated their interaction with female students, particularly Hindu girls. The systematic targeting of Hindu schoolgirls, combined with stalking, harassment, and repeated attempts to establish contact, pointed towards organised grooming behaviour aimed at targeting vulnerable Hindu girls for exploitation and religious conversion through deceptive and coercive means. Such actions were rooted in religious animosity, as the targeting was directed specifically towards Hindu students on the basis of their religious identity. The pattern of behaviour demonstrated that the victims were not chosen randomly but were singled out because they were Hindu girls studying in an environment where the accused individuals exercised influence and access. Fourth, the complaints further stated that some hostel students were being mentally influenced and harassed for religious conversion to Islam. Pressuring a Hindu individual to discard their religious faith and embrace another constitutes a direct attack on their religious identity and dignity. Such acts cannot be dismissed as interpersonal disagreements or educational influence because the targeting specifically targeted at Hindu students and sought to alter their religious beliefs and cultural identity. The coercive nature of the reported conduct reflected hostility towards the victims’ Hindu identity, as the objective was not coexistence but religious transformation. Attempts to detach Hindu students from their faith through psychological pressure, ideological conditioning, and social manipulation, therefore, constituted a religiously motivated act targeting a vulnerable community. This case is therefore being categorised as a hate crime because the targeting was directed specifically at Hindu schoolgirls on the basis of their religious identity within an institution entrusted with their safety and education. The combination of forced participation in Islamic prayers, ideological conditioning, grooming behaviour by outsider Muslim men, and reported pressure for conversion demonstrated a pattern of conduct aimed at undermining and erasing the Hindu religious identity of the victims. The involvement of school staff further aggravated the severity of the incident because the authority and trust associated with educational institutions were used to facilitate religious targeting and coercive influence against Hindu minors.
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
