Hindu minor girl lured into relationship by Muslim man pretending to be Hindu; compelled to follow Islamic customs, eat beef and convert to Islam once accused's identity is revealed
Lakhisarai, Bihar, India 
15 April, 2012
Case Summary
A Hindu girl from Lakhisarai district, Bihar, was subjected to years of deception, sexual exploitation, coercion, and religious pressure by a Muslim man who concealed his religious identity and entered into a relationship with her while she was still a minor. The relationship continued for more than a decade before his true identity became known. The Hindu victim later described sustained abuse, pressure to abandon her faith, and exploitation that extended into multiple aspects of her life. The incident began in 2012, when the Hindu girl, then aged 16, came into contact with a Muslim man named Kamal Ashraf. He introduced himself as "Sumit" and presented himself as a Hindu man from Ooty, Tamil Nadu. Believing him to be Hindu, the minor Hindu girl entered into a relationship with him. The relationship continued over several years while his real identity remained concealed from her. During this period, the Hindu victim remained in a relationship that had been established through a false identity. Kamal Ashraf maintained the deception and continued presenting himself as "Sumit". The Hindu girl remained unaware that the man she knew by that name was, in fact, Kamal Ashraf. The relationship developed over several years and continued into her adulthood. The Hindu victim was taken to multiple cities during the course of the relationship. She was sexually exploited over an extended period. The exploitation continued while the relationship remained founded upon the false identity through which Kamal Ashraf had first gained her trust. The Hindu victim later stated that the sexual relationship had been maintained under assurances regarding the future of their relationship and marriage. In 2015, the Hindu victim gave birth to a child. Around this period, Kamal Ashraf disclosed his real identity. The revelation fundamentally altered the circumstances of the relationship. The Hindu victim learned that the man she had known as "Sumit" was in fact Kamal Ashraf, a Muslim man from Bihar. Following the disclosure of his identity, the Hindu victim stated that she came under increasing pressure to abandon her Hindu faith. She described repeated demands that she convert to Islam and adopt Islamic religious practices. She stated that she was compelled to pray according to Islamic customs and was pressured to consume beef. She further described mental and physical abuse when she resisted these demands. The Hindu victim also stated that the relationship involved financial exploitation. Vehicles were financed in her name and subsequently used by Kamal Ashraf and his associates. The financial burden arising from these arrangements remained tied to assets under the control of Kamal Ashraf and his associates. As the years passed, the dispute intensified when the Hindu victim sought social recognition and marriage. According to the case record, the revelation of Kamal Ashraf's true identity led to an escalation of conflict between the parties. The Hindu victim stated that she had entered and remained in the relationship believing she was involved with a Hindu man named Sumit, and that this understanding had shaped the course of her decisions for many years. The Hindu victim subsequently approached the authorities and filed a complaint detailing the events that had taken place since 2012. Her complaint described concealment of identity, prolonged sexual exploitation, religious pressure, financial exploitation, mental harassment, and physical abuse. The complaint further stated that pressure had been exerted upon her to abandon her Hindu faith and adopt Islamic religious practices. Based on the complaint, FIR No. 94/25 was registered at Suryagarha Police Station, Lakhisarai district, Bihar, in 2025. Police initiated an investigation into the matter. During the course of the investigation, authorities examined the allegations concerning identity concealment, sexual exploitation, conversion pressure, financial exploitation, and related offences. As part of the investigation, police conducted raids at multiple locations in an effort to locate Kamal Ashraf. Authorities also undertook seizure and confiscation proceedings in connection with the case. His residence was seized during the investigation. Despite repeated searches and enforcement action, he remained at large. Police also recovered a Scorpio vehicle from the Malaypur area of Jamui district during the investigation. A relative connected to the matter was arrested, while efforts continued to locate additional property and individuals linked to the case. As Kamal Ashraf remained absconding despite repeated police operations, authorities intensified efforts to secure his arrest. Given the seriousness of the case and the length of time for which he had evaded custody, the Bihar Police announced a reward of ₹10,000 for information leading to his arrest. The reward was publicly declared as part of efforts to trace and apprehend him. Police stated that continuous raids were being conducted at possible hideouts and locations linked to Kamal Ashraf. The investigation remained active, with authorities appealing to members of the public to provide any information regarding his whereabouts. Officials stated that the identity of informants would be kept confidential. The case drew particular attention because the relationship had begun when the Hindu victim was a minor and had continued for approximately thirteen years. Throughout this period, the victim stated that she remained unaware of the perpetrator's true identity and later faced sustained pressure to abandon her Hindu faith after that identity became known to her. The investigation further examined the circumstances surrounding the concealment of identity, the prolonged relationship, the birth of a child, the allegations of sexual exploitation, the allegations of financial misuse, and the repeated pressure exerted upon the Hindu victim to convert to Islam and adopt Islamic religious practices. Police continued gathering evidence and pursuing all individuals connected to the case. By the time authorities announced the reward, Kamal Ashraf remained absconding despite property seizure proceedings, repeated police raids, and extensive search operations. The investigation remained ongoing, with law enforcement continuing efforts to secure his arrest and complete further legal proceedings connected to the case. The case remained under active investigation in Bihar. Police continued to pursue Kamal Ashraf and examine the full circumstances surrounding the concealment of identity, the long-term relationship established with the Hindu victim, the sexual exploitation she described, the pressure to convert her from Hinduism to Islam, and the related allegations contained in the FIR. The reward announcement formed part of the continuing effort to locate and apprehend him after he had remained beyond the reach of law enforcement for an extended period.
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. Under this, the tertiary categories are Rape and sexual assault/harassment, and Victim says she was brainwashed/groomed. 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. Another sub-category selected is Harassments, 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 seelcted here is - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Man pretends to be Hindu. Under this, the tertiary category selected is - Name changed. When a non-Hindu man pretends to be a Hindu to deceive a Hindu woman into a relationship, the act is seen as triggered by malafide intentions. In some cases, the woman eventually accepts the man’s original religious identity and converts after the man’s identity is revealed. These cases could be argued as cases of religious brainwashing and a result of the pressure a woman feels after getting into a relationship with a man. The woman, it can be argued, also changed her religious identity because of the stigma she believes she might face if she chooses to walk out of a deceptive relationship. However, for the purpose of documenting hate crimes, the cases in this subcategory are limited to those where there is explicit violence aimed at religious conversion against the wishes of the victim (force-feeding beef, blackmailing with intimate videos, rape on refusal to convert, etc), or if the woman herself complains of the man’s religious deception. In such cases, it is established that the deception of the non-Hindu man had a specific aim of religious conversion or targeting of the victim due to her Hindu religious identity, therefore, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. Another sub-category selected here is - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary categories being - Rape and sexual assault/harassment, and Victim says she was brainwashed/groomed. 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. The other subcategory selected here is- Forced conversion before marriage. Within this, the tertiary categories selected are- Forced to follow non-Hindu religious practices and Forced to eat beef. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. In such cases, typically, two patterns emerge. First, when the relationship is consensual, and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. The second is when the woman gets into a marriage with the man pretending to share her faith. Later, when the truth is revealed, the man starts pressuring the woman to convert her religion and give up her religious identity. In both the situations, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. This case qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime because it involved the long-term grooming, manipulation, sexual exploitation, and religious coercion of a Hindu girl by a Muslim man who targeted her from the time she was a minor and later sought to alter her religious identity. The conduct was not limited to a personal relationship but evolved into sustained efforts to move the victim away from her Hindu faith and compel her to adopt Islamic beliefs and practices. The sequence of deception, exploitation, and conversion pressure demonstrates that the victim's Hindu identity was central to the conduct she experienced. The proselytisation in this case was facilitated through grooming, manipulation, and gradual psychological influence that began when the victim was still a minor. The victim’s age is particularly significant because minors are especially vulnerable to emotional dependency, coercion, and influence from older individuals. A child cannot fully comprehend the lifelong consequences of entering an intimate relationship, adopting a new religious identity, or becoming dependent upon someone who exercises control over them. By establishing a relationship with a Hindu minor and maintaining that influence over many years, the perpetrator exploited both her youth and her Hindu identity. The prolonged nature of the relationship enabled him to build trust, dependency, and compliance before introducing demands that directly targeted her religious beliefs. This demonstrates a pattern of subtle indoctrination in which emotional influence was used as a pathway towards religious conformity rather than allowing the victim to make informed and independent choices regarding her faith. The sexual exploitation endured by the victim further reinforced the pattern of domination and control. The relationship extended from her years as a minor into adulthood, during which she was subjected to sustained sexual exploitation that ultimately resulted in the birth of a child. Such conduct compromised the victim's bodily autonomy over an extended period and deepened her emotional, social, and practical dependence upon the perpetrator. The significance of this abuse lies not merely in the sexual exploitation itself, but in the way it strengthened the perpetrator's ability to maintain influence over the victim and limit her ability to resist later demands. The fact that the exploitation continued across many years and persisted from adolescence into adulthood demonstrates a sustained pattern in which the victim's vulnerability was repeatedly used for the perpetrator's benefit. The resulting child further tied the victim to the relationship, increasing her dependence and making it more difficult to separate herself from the circumstances imposed upon her. The victim's own statement also reinforces the presence of grooming and manipulation. She informed the authorities that she had been deceived regarding the perpetrator's identity and subjected to years of exploitation, coercion, and abuse. Her account establishes that the relationship was built on concealment and sustained by manipulation rather than by transparency and informed choice. The victim's description of the events is significant because it demonstrates that the influence exercised over her was neither incidental nor temporary but formed a continuous pattern that shaped the course of her life from adolescence onwards. The religious hostility underlying the conduct became particularly evident after the perpetrator's true identity was revealed. Rather than allowing the victim to freely maintain her Hindu faith, he began pressuring her to convert to Islam and adopt Islamic religious practices. When she resisted these demands, she was subjected to mental and physical abuse. The coercion extended beyond verbal pressure and included efforts to compel participation in Islamic worship and religious observances. Particularly significant was the pressure to consume beef despite the cow's sacred status within Hinduism. For many Hindus, reverence towards the cow forms an important part of religious belief and cultural identity. Forcing a Hindu woman to consume beef against her wishes, therefore, carries a profound religious dimension because it directly violates beliefs that she regarded as sacred. These actions demonstrate an effort not merely to influence behaviour but to weaken, replace, and erase the victim's Hindu identity through coercion and intimidation. The abuse was directly linked to her refusal to abandon her faith, making her Hindu identity central to the hostility she experienced. The deliberate concealment of his Muslim identity through the use of the Hindu name "Sumit" constitutes another significant religious marker. This was religiously significant because the deception specifically exploited the trust associated with a shared Hindu identity. By presenting himself as a Hindu, the perpetrator created a false sense of familiarity, religious compatibility, and safety that enabled him to gain the confidence of a Hindu minor. The deception was not a spontaneous misrepresentation but a calculated method of overcoming barriers that may otherwise have existed. The perpetrator understood that presenting himself as a Hindu would make it easier to build trust with a Hindu girl and secure long-term access to her life. The fact that this deception began when the victim was still a minor further underscores the calculated nature of the conduct, as a young person is less likely to recognise manipulation or independently verify such claims. By adopting a Hindu name and concealing his Muslim identity for years, the perpetrator used a fabricated religious identity as a tool of deception designed to gain influence, establish control, and maintain a relationship that was founded upon false religious pretences. The subsequent revelation of his true identity, followed by pressure to convert, is particularly significant because it demonstrates that the concealment of identity and the later religious coercion formed part of the same pattern of conduct. The false Hindu identity enabled the relationship to develop, while the later demands sought to transform the victim's religious identity. Viewed together, these actions reveal a continuous process in which deception was used to secure access to a Hindu girl and coercion was later used to pressure her away from her faith. The progression from identity concealment to religious pressure indicates that the deception was not incidental but served as a mechanism through which the victim could be placed in a position of vulnerability before conversion demands were introduced. Taken together, the grooming of a Hindu minor, the prolonged manipulation extending into adulthood, the sustained sexual exploitation that resulted in the birth of a child, the victim's own account of deception and abuse, the coercive attempts to impose Islamic practices and beliefs, the abuse inflicted when she resisted, and the deliberate adoption of a false Hindu identity demonstrate a clear pattern of religiously motivated targeting. The victim was not selected at random. Her identity as a Hindu girl formed the basis upon which the deception succeeded and later became the focus of efforts to alter her religious identity. The victim's Hindu faith was not incidental to the events described in the case. It was repeatedly targeted through deception, religious coercion, compelled participation in Islamic practices, pressure to abandon Hindu beliefs, and abuse when she resisted those demands. This stems from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert. Such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents. For these reasons, the case met the threshold of a religiously motivated hate crime and was added to the hate crime database of the tracker. Disclaimer: The exact date of when the Hindu girl and the Muslim perpetrator first came into contact was not specified in the available sources. However, the year of initial contact was estimated to be around 2012. The tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurred rather than when it was reported or published. In this case, 16th April 2012 has been used as the indicative incident date, derived by aligning the known year with the article publication date of 16th April 2025. This date 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 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
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 
