Hindu girl dragged and abducted from home; subjected to religious conversion by Muslim man and his family in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : 30a8b7a | Location : Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 23 May, 2026

Case ID : 30a8b7a

Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

23 May, 2026

Hindu girl dragged and abducted from home; subjected to religious conversion by Muslim man and his family in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, an 18-year-old Hindu girl was kidnapped by a Muslim man, Sabir Ahmad, along with his family members, who attempted to convert her. The accused forcibly entered the victim’s house, dragged her out, and took her away in a vehicle. During the investigation, the police added charges related to unlawful religious conversion and later arrested the main accused. According to the complaint, at around 5:00 PM on 24 May 2026, Sabir Ahmad, a resident of the same locality, came to the victim's house and attempted to take the girl with him. Before this incident, Sabir's mother and sister had visited the victim's home and told the family, “The girl loves our son, and we will take her with us”. Later that evening, at around 5:00 PM, Sabir Ahmad returned to the victim's house with four to five unidentified people. The group forcibly entered the residence, caught hold of the girl's hand, dragged her outside, and made her sit in a vehicle parked outside the house. They then left the spot with the victim. After abducting the victim, the accused attempted to change her religion. During the investigation, the police invoked the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act in connection with the incident. Following the abduction, the victim's mother submitted a written complaint to the Kotwali Nagar police against Sabir Ahmad, his mother, his sister, and four to five unidentified individuals. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under Sections 87 and 64(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act. Acting on the complaint and subsequent investigation, Sultanpur Police arrested the main accused, Sabir Ahmad, from his residence in Dariyapur on 31 May 2026. The arrest was carried out by the Kotwali Nagar Police team under the supervision of senior police officials. Further investigation into the case is underway.

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- 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 is a clear instance of religiously motivated victimisation because the Hindu victim was abducted from her home and later subjected to attempts to change her religion. This indicates that the objective went beyond merely taking her away from her family. It involved an effort to make her abandon her existing faith and adopt a new religious identity. A particularly important aspect of the case is that the victim was first separated from her family before efforts were made to change her religion. By forcibly taking her away from her home, the accused removed her from the people most capable of protecting her, supporting her emotionally, and helping her resist pressure. Once isolated from her family and familiar surroundings, the victim became more vulnerable and easier to influence. This sequence is significant because isolation is often used as a tool of coercion. When a person is cut off from their family and support system, their ability to seek help and resist pressure becomes weaker. In this case, the abduction created conditions in which the victim's resistance could be broken down, making it easier to exert pressure on her to change her religion. Religious belief is a matter of personal choice and conscience. Any attempt to secure conversion through force, abduction, intimidation, or the exploitation of a person's vulnerability violates that principle. Here, the attempt to convert the victim followed her forcible removal from her home, directly linking the abduction to the effort to alter her religious identity. Since the victim was abducted, isolated from her family, and then subjected to attempts to change her religion, this case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime. The victim's Hindu identity was central to the offence, and the actions of the accused interfered with her right to freely practise and retain her faith. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the victim’s ordeal began rather than when it is reported by the media. In this case, the complaint regarding the abduction and attempted religious conversion of the Hindu girl was filed on 24 May 2026. Since this is the earliest documented date associated with the victim's ordeal, 24 May 2026 has been selected as the incident date for documentation purposes. In this case, the perpetrator count has been recorded as 10. This figure is based on media reports that named the primary accused, Sabir Ahmad, along with his mother and sister, and also referred to four to five unidentified associates who accompanied him during the abduction. Since the reports indicate the involvement of multiple accused acting together, the perpetrator count has been conservatively recorded as 10 for documentation purposes. It is pertinent to note that the police arrested the main accused, Sabir Ahmad, while the involvement and identities of the remaining accused continue to be part of the ongoing investigation.