Minor Hindu girls religiously profiled, lured into relationships and sexually assaulted by Muslim man in Kolhapur
Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India 
27 June, 2026
Case Summary
In Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, two minor Hindu girls were religiously profiled, targeted, lured into relationships and sexually assaulted by a Muslim man named Sameer Allahbaksh Maner. Regarding this incident, a case was registered at Shivajinagar Police Station. The accused, identified as Sameer, is 21 years old and is a resident of Pawar Mal. He lured the two minor Hindu girls into a relationship trap through social media platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram, establishing contact via online conversations and mobile communication. He sexually assaulted them after misleading them under the pretext of marriage and forcibly engaging in sexual relations. Two separate complaints were filed in the matter, following which the police took him into custody. Following the registration of the case, tensions escalated in the area after Hindu activists gathered near the Sakharpe Hospital area upon receiving information about the case. The situation became tense amid slogans and searches linked to the accused, who fled upon learning that he was being sought. During the incident, the accused’s brother was also found present and was questioned by the gathered crowd. His mobile phone was checked, and objectionable content was discovered, after which he was assaulted by the crowd in connection with the case. The Hindu activists and local residents called this a case of “love jihad”. Police from Shivajinagar Police Station, led by Inspector Sharad Memane, reached the spot and rescued him from the situation. Heavy police deployment was made in the area, and Deputy Superintendent of Police Vikrant Gaikwad visited the location, gathered details, and directed an investigation. Subsequently, the accused’s brother was taken into custody and brought to the police station, where a large crowd also gathered. Meanwhile, police continued to investigate the two complaints, in one of which the accused established contact with a victim through WhatsApp, Instagram, and phone conversations, took her away, and forcibly engaged in sexual intercourse. In the second complaint, he molested another victim under the pretext of marriage. Separately, a public programme under the “Beti Bachao-Desh Bachao Abhiyan” was organised by the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti at Jivaji Cultural Bhavan in Ichalkaranji, focusing on awareness regarding “love jihad” cases and preventive measures. The event was scheduled to include guidance by Ramesh Shinde, national spokesperson of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, and Sadguru Swati Khadaye of the Sanatan Sanstha, highlighting the seriousness of such incidents and urging a stronger legal and public response.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case is being added to the tracker under the primary category: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is: Brainwashed and/or groomed. The tertiary categories selected are: Rape and sexual assault/harassment, and Pattern of targeting Hindu minors. 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 primary category selected is: Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory selected: Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime under this category. This case stands as a clear example of a religiously motivated hate crime, where two minor Hindu victims were deliberately lured into relationships by a Muslim perpetrator who later sexually exploited and assaulted them. This selective targeting of Hindu victims, coupled with the absolute absence of any Muslim or other non-Hindu women in his trajectory, underscores the profound religious hostility harboured by the perpetrator. His actions were systematically directed against these victims based entirely on their religious identity. It is critical to highlight that the victims in this case were both Hindus, a fact that exposes a definitive pattern of targeting Hindu individuals for sexual violence. This was not a random pursuit of sexual gratification; rather, it was executed with a targeted religious motive, intentionally selecting victims because of their faith and subsequently subjecting them to sexual violations. This exclusive focus on a single community classifies the incident unequivocally as a religiously driven hate crime. It is equally important to emphasise that the victims are minors, meaning that any element of legal consent or genuine change of conscience is missing ab initio. Due to their young age and immaturity, minors are highly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion, rendering them incapable of identifying predatory relationships, religious profiling, or calculated targeting designed to inflict sexual violence against them. The Muslim perpetrator actively exploited this vulnerability, luring them into his trap and grooming them via social media platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram under a false pretence of affection and marriage. In reality, his objective was to target these victims for their Hindu identity and subject them to sexual violation. This deceptive angle makes the relationship highly predatory and manipulative, wherein romance was weaponised as a mere facade to ensnare the victims because of their faith. The perpetrator’s tactic of initially luring his victims into simulated relationships through Instagram and WhatsApp reveals a calculated strategy designed for entrapment. Once they were trapped, he sexually assaulted them after misleading them under the pretext of marriage and subjected them to forced sexual relations. These actions extend far beyond opportunistic misconduct. This methodical humiliation served to assert religious dominance, degrading minor Hindu girls as symbols of their broader community to inflict lasting psychological and societal harm. By weaponising intimacy against their faith, he channelled anti-Hindu animosity into sexual violence and molestation, profiling the victims not as individuals, but as representatives of Hinduism to be conquered and shamed. Such religiously profiled exploitation embodies a hate crime, where the underlying motive stems from prejudice aimed at subjugating a religious community. Targeting victims explicitly for their religious identity cements this incident as an act of religiously motivated sexual violence fueled by anti-Hindu hatred. These minor Hindu girls faced forced sexual intercourse and molestation because the perpetrator viewed them as objects to violate due to their faith, stripping them of their humanity within his bias-driven worldview. Unlike identity-neutral crimes, the strict religious profiling observed here, with zero targeting of women from his own community, demonstrates hatred directed outward to attack Hindu dignity, satisfying the definitions of a hate crime through clear intent to harm based on religion. The systematic nature of the crime underscores that these actions were not born of random lust but were part of a deliberate campaign rooted in anti-Hindu animosity aimed at humiliating the Hindu community by violating its minor girls. By framing his predatory actions entirely around their faith, the perpetrator revealed that profiling was central to his motive, exploiting his victims under the false pretext of marriage to degrade Hindu moral standing. This pattern aligns perfectly with hate crime indicators, confirming religious hatred as the driving force. Notably, this is not the first time such targeted, religiously profiled exploitation of Hindu women and girls has occurred. The Hinduphobia Tracker has previously documented three other instances where Hindu women and girls were specifically targeted for their religious identity for sexual violence and harassment. For example, in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, ten Hindu women were religiously profiled, trapped in relationships, and subsequently sexually exploited and blackmailed by a Muslim man named Shahid Sameer Sanadi. In another case from Chandana Village, Kheda District, Gujarat, Hindu women and girls faced targeted and sustained sexual harassment and intimidation following the illegal encroachment of village land by Muslim locals. In another case from Ashok Vihar, Delhi, more than 20 minor Hindu female students were selectively targeted and sexually assaulted by their Muslim tutor, Mohammed Imran. The accused was arrested by the Ashok Vihar police after multiple minor Hindu female students came forward with details of sexual harassment. The police investigation revealed a pattern of behaviour that went unnoticed for months, coming to light only after a Hindu student broke her silence. Given that this case satisfied multiple parameters of an anti-Hindu hate crime, it has been formally added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of an incident based on when the victim’s ordeal is understood to have begun, rather than the date on which it is first reported in the media. However, in the present case, media reports do not specify the exact onset date of the victim’s ordeal. Therefore, for documentation purposes, 28 June 2026, is being used as the indicative incident date, corresponding to the earliest available media reporting. In this case, the primary accused has been identified in reports as Sameer. Additionally, it has been stated that his brother was also in possession of objectionable photographs of the victims on his mobile device, which indicates secondary involvement of him in the matter. Accordingly, for documentation and tracking purposes, the total number of perpetrators in this case has been recorded as two.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 2
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 2
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
