Case Summary

A minor Hindu girl was lured into a relationship and sexually exploited by a Muslim man named Wasim. Furthermore, two Muslim women associated with the accused also persuaded her to convert to Islam and taught her to offer namaz. According to the complaint filed by the victim's father, the accused, Wasim, initiated contact with the victim when she was just 15 years old, through Instagram, after working at the family's residence. He gradually drew her into a relationship, and over the following four years, he sexually exploited her after trapping her in a love trap. The complaint further stated that two Muslim women, Neha Khan and her friend Ikra, from the Mainapur village, actively encouraged the relationship, taught the victim to offer namaz, and persuaded her to convert to Islam. The victim's father stated that his daughter had run away from home twice within a period of 15 days. On both occasions, she was traced and brought back by the police after emergency calls were made to the 112 helpline. Following one of these incidents, she refused to stay with her family and instead began living with tenants residing on the ground floor of the family home. According to the complaint, during this period, she spoke to the tenants about poisoning her father and brother, raising fears that she had been influenced into conspiring against her own family. The father further stated that she subsequently left home once again and was brought to the police station after being traced by the police. Subsequently, the police informed the family that Wasim would be brought in for questioning. However, the father stated that despite waiting at the police station throughout the day, Wasim was not produced for questioning, nor was any satisfactory explanation provided to the family. He further stated that his daughter refused to accompany the family back home. The complaint also stated that after she had been brought home following the previous police intervention, she repeatedly threatened to die by suicide if she was made to remain with her family. The father further stated that his daughter remained in constant contact with Wasim through Neha Khan and Ikra. He expressed concern that she had become completely influenced by those he held responsible and stated that her mental condition had deteriorated. He also said that she had been administered drugs, stating that her health had steadily declined over the preceding nine months. The complaint further stated that several Muslim youths had been seen repeatedly loitering around the family's residence during the previous two days, causing the family to fear for their safety. The father requested immediate police intervention, seeking the arrest of Wasim, Neha Khan and Ikra, and appealed for action to protect himself and his son and to rescue his daughter from their influence.

Case Images

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 here is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with the tertiary category being - Conversion of minor, Rape and sexual assault/harassment and Family claims grooming. 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 second primary category selected here is - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected here is - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary category being - Conversion of minor, Rape and sexual assault/harassment and Family claims grooming. 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 case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu minor girl was targeted by a Muslim man who cultivated a relationship over several years, sexually exploited her, and, with the assistance of two Muslim women, encouraged her to adopt Islamic religious practices by teaching her namaz and persuading her towards religious conversion. Firstly, it is important to note here that when the accused targeted the victim, she was just 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, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of religious hate, which is why it has been documented here in the hate tracker. Such acts are not merely criminal in nature; they are ideologically charged, revealing religious prejudice and a calculated intent to alter the religious identity of a minor without her volition. The use of grooming, where trust is built only to exploit, is an insidious method that exploits the child’s naivety and dependence. In this context, the testimony of the family, especially that of a close relative like the parents, holds considerable weight. Secondly, the religious dimension of the case is further reinforced by the fact that the victim was persuaded to convert to Islam and was taught how to offer namaz. This showcased a systematic and gradual effort to immerse her in Islam and indoctrinate him, deliberately severing his ties to his Hindu religious identity and heritage. By compelling these alien rituals on a Hindu victim day after day, the Muslim perpetrators aimed to psychologically and culturally erase his roots, fostering dependence on the new faith while dismantling his sense of belonging to Hinduism, making it a clear case of a religiously motivated hate crime that attacks the essence of Hindu devotional life. Thirdly, the relationship was used as a vehicle to encourage or pressure an individual to abandon their faith and adopt another religion; the religious element becomes integral to the offence rather than merely incidental. Often in such cases, sexual exploitation serves 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. Furthermore, the complaint indicated that the girl's conduct had changed to such an extent that she spoke about killing her father and brother. This demonstrates a level of grooming and psychological influence extending far beyond the formation of a romantic relationship. The victim became deeply influenced by the Muslim perpetrators to the point that she was encouraged to turn against her own family. These actions were an effort to isolate the victim from her family and social support network, a pattern that can facilitate complete dependence on the perpetrators and make religious conversion easier to accomplish. Viewed in conjunction with the attempts to influence her religious beliefs, the accused's conduct was motivated by religious animosity, with the isolation of the victim serving the broader objective of severing her ties with her Hindu family and enabling her full conversion to Islam. Taken together, the Hindu minor girl was targeted through a relationship that was accompanied by sexual exploitation, encouragement to adopt Islamic religious practices, and efforts towards religious conversion. 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 Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the accused began grooming the victim. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the FIR was filed, 6 July 2026.