Minor Hindu girl groomed, converted and blackmailed into marriage by Muslim e-rickshaw driver in Lucknow
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India 
23 December, 2025
Case Summary
In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, the mother of a 17-year-old Hindu girl accused a Muslim e-rickshaw driver, Babu Hashmi, of grooming and converting her daughter to Islam. She stated that the accused was using the victim's private photographs and videos to blackmail her into marriage and threatened the family when they resisted. The victim's mother, who works as a domestic helper to support her daughter's education, told police that her daughter studied at a private school in Mehndiganj. Since the school was located far from their residence, she had arranged for Babu Hashmi's e-rickshaw to transport her daughter daily. Over past 6 months, she noticed a marked change in her daughter's behaviour. The girl had begun speaking frequently about Islam, which raised concerns within the family. After making inquiries with her daughter's school friends, the mother learned that Hashmi had developed a close relationship with the minor girl, converted her to Islam, and was pressuring her to marry him. She also discovered that he was threatening to leak the girl's private photographs and videos if she refused his demands. Upon learning this, she decided to confront the accused and on 15 June, 2026 called him to a relative's residence. There, she pleaded with him to leave her daughter alone and reminded him that she was a minor who was not capable of making such life-altering decisions. Instead of backing down, Hashmi reportedly became aggressive and told the mother that she could do nothing against him. He further threatened that he would elope with the girl and warned the family against interfering in the relationship.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This incident has been added to the tracker under two primary categories. The first- Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories selected are- Family claims grooming, 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 second category selected is- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the first subcategory selected 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. The tertiary categories selected are- Family claims grooming, Conversion of minor. 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 hate crimes. This case constitutes a religiously motivated hate crime because the Hindu victim was reportedly identified, influenced, and pressured to abandon her faith and accept Islam. The accused did not merely pursue a personal relationship with the victim. Rather, the relationship was developed with the purpose of changing her religious identity and subsequently pressuring her into marriage. A particularly significant aspect of the case is that the accused occupied a position of trust in the victim's life. As the person responsible for transporting her to and from school, he had regular access to the minor girl and the opportunity to build a close relationship with her over an extended period. The family's concerns arose only after they noticed a marked change in the victim's behaviour and learned that she had begun speaking extensively about Islam. This suggests that the process of influencing the victim's religious beliefs occurred gradually and away from the knowledge of her family. Since the Hindu victim was a minor, 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 vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. The coercive nature of the incident was evident from the reported use of private photographs and videos to pressure the victim into marriage. Once compromising material was obtained, it was used as leverage to compel compliance. Such tactics are designed to create fear, emotional dependency, and vulnerability, making it more difficult for a victim to resist demands that they would otherwise reject. 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 incident is not an isolated case but part of a broader pattern where Hindu women are deliberately targeted through deception and emotional blackmail for religious conversion and sexual exploitation. 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.
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 not filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
