Minor Hindu girl befriended, abducted, raped and forcibly converted to Islam by Muslim man posing as Hindu in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
20 June, 2026
Case Summary
In Bamav village of Ghatampur, Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, a 16-year-old Hindu girl was befriended, abducted, raped and converted to Islam by a Muslim man named Sahil, who concealed his religious identity by presenting himself as a Hindu. According to the victim's family, the accused, Sahil, wore a tilak and a sacred thread (kalava) to gain the confidence of the minor Hindu girl and those around her. Over time, he repeatedly approached the girl, stopped her on the road, and pressured her into a relationship. The victim's father stated that Sahil subsequently sexually exploited the minor and repeatedly pressured her to convert to Islam. Owing to fear of social stigma and intimidation, the victim remained silent for a considerable period. On 21 June 2026, Sahil, along with his brother Munna and other associates, took the minor victim away from her home. When the family objected and attempted to recover her, they were informed that she had converted to Islam and now belonged to them. The family was also threatened with consequences if they approached the authorities. The victim's father initially sought police intervention, but no immediate action was taken. He subsequently approached local Bajrang Dal members, who assisted in tracing the victim's whereabouts and shared the information with the police. Following this intervention, the police registered a case against Sahil, Munna and other accused persons and recovered the girl from Sahil's residence. After her statement was recorded before the court, she was handed over to her family. Based on the complaint filed by the victim's father, the police registered a case under relevant provisions against Sahil, Munna and other unidentified individuals. The victim was sent for medical examination while police teams were deployed to apprehend the accused. Sahil and his father were subsequently arrested, and further investigation into the matter was initiated.
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 and Rape and sexual/harassment. 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 here 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 other sub-category selected here is - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected here is - Man pretends to be Hindu with the tertiary category being - Wears symbols of Hinduism. 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a minor Hindu girl was targeted by a Muslim man who concealed his religious identity, gained her trust through deception, abducted her from her family, and forcibly converted her to Islam. The incident involved the targeting of a Hindu minor through religious concealment, coercive conduct, and conversion pressure, making the victim's religious identity a significant component of the offence. Firstly, it is important to note here that the victim was a minor, which 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 vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion or consenting to a relationship, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Furthermore, any supposed consent given for a relationship is also considered invalid under the POCSO Act. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of religious hate. Secondly, the accused pretended to be a Hindu man and wore a tilak and kalava to gain the trust of the minor Hindu victim. The accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu girl. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and "ensnare" a Hindu individual is not just an act of personal betrayal but can also be interpreted as an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs that reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. Thirdly, the religious nature of the deception became even more explicit through the perpetrator’s deliberate use of Hindu symbols and outward religious markers. He wore a tilak on his forehead, wearing a kalava and projected himself as a Hindu man. The tilak carries deep religious and cultural significance within Hinduism and is commonly associated with devotion, faith, and Hindu identity. By wearing it while concealing his real identity, the perpetrator intentionally weaponised Hindu religious symbolism to strengthen his false persona and emotionally manipulate the Hindu woman into believing he belonged to her faith community. This demonstrated calculated intent to misuse Hindu religious practices and symbols in order to deceive a Hindu victim. Fourth, the accused abducted the minor victim and forcibly converted her to Islam. Forcing a Hindu individual to discard her religious faith and embrace another was a direct attack on her religious identity and dignity. It was not a matter of personal choice; it was coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity. Such an attempt reflects religious animosity because the act was not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Often in such cases, abduction, forced isolation and sexual violence serve a dual purpose: physical subjugation and religious humiliation. The intention was to break the victim down, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, so that she could be converted. This was not random violence; it was systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. Fifth, the victim's family faced threats when they attempted to recover their minor daughter and objected to her removal from the family home. Such threats are significant because they served to isolate the victim from her primary support system and hinder efforts to secure her safe return. The intimidation of family members who sought to protect a minor child reinforced the coercive nature of the incident and created an environment in which both the victim and her relatives were placed under pressure. This conduct further undermined the possibility of any free or voluntary decision-making on the part of the victim and strengthened the pattern of deception, coercion, and conversion pressure that characterised the case. Such actions stem 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. Therefore, religious conversions, even of minors, are often seen as a badge of honour, totally disregarding the methods used to achieve it. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: The victim was abducted on 21 June 2026. Therefore, the date of the incident has been recorded as 21 June 2026.
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
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
