Hindu minor girl abducted, raped, and forcibly converted to Islam for nikah by Muslim man in Sindh, Pakistan

Case ID : 30a98b2 | Location : Shahdadpur, Sindh, Pakistan | Date of Incident : Thu, 2 January, 2025

Case ID : 30a98b2

Shahdadpur, Sindh, Pakistan

2 January, 2025

Hindu minor girl abducted, raped, and forcibly converted to Islam for nikah by Muslim man in Sindh, Pakistan

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Conversion of minor

Case Summary

In Shahdadpur, Sanghar district of Sindh, Pakistan, a 14-year-old Hindu minor named Paro Bhel was abducted, subjected to sexual violence, and forcibly converted to Islam for nikah by a Muslim man named Fida Hussain Mastoi. Local police authorities refused to register a formal case, instead harassing the victim and filming a coerced conversion statement to present to the press. Paro Bhel's case was not an isolated case but only one of the several cases where Hindu women and minor girls have been abducted and forcibly converted in Pakistan. The Hinduphobia Tracker had previously documented numerous similar cases. For example, in Mirpur Khas, Sindh, a minor Hindu girl named Maria, daughter of Shamon Bheel of Village Usman Shah Hadi, Tando Allahyar, was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. She was married to her abductor, Naeem Memon Rajput, aged twenty-nine, and her name was changed to Naila Sheikh. Her family stated that the conversion and marriage were carried out without consent and under coercion. In September 2025, in Umerkot, Sindh, a minor Hindu girl named Shardha Oad was abducted and subjected to forced religious conversion and marriage by a Muslim man named Riaz Ali and his accomplices. The case came to light after her widowed mother, Kamla Oad, approached the Women’s Police Station in Umerkot seeking justice. In March 2026, in Dhilyar, Khipro, Sindh province, Pakistan, a Hindu woman and her minor daughter were abducted at gunpoint, sexually abused and forcibly converted to Islam by armed Muslim men. The victims were Pari, aged around 35 years, and her daughter Sapna, aged approximately 10 years. This current case highlighted the persecution faced by the Hindu minorities in Pakistan, marked by systemic discrimination, violence, and forced conversions. Hindu women, particularly young girls, were often abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to Muslim men with little to no legal recourse. Temples were frequently vandalised or destroyed, and Hindu communities were subjected to social and economic marginalisation. Blasphemy laws were disproportionately used against Hindus, leading to false accusations and severe punishments. Many Hindu families were forced to flee their homes due to religious intolerance, living in constant fear of attacks. This sustained persecution highlighted the dire conditions for Hindus in Pakistan, where their religious identity made them targets of oppression.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category for this case is "Predatory Proselytisation". The sub-category 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 subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category under it is: 'Conversion of minor' and Rape and sexual assault/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 the 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 proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime, as the abduction, sexual violence, forced conversion, and coerced marriage of a 14-year-old Hindu minor clearly demonstrate an intent to target a vulnerable victim on the basis of her religious identity. The fact that the victim was a Hindu minor in Shahdadpur, Sindh, and was subjected to repeated abuse before being converted and married off, places the case squarely within the pattern of predatory proselytisation directed at Hindu girls in Pakistan. The case also fits the broader pattern of harassment, threats, coercion for conversion, as the conversion was not voluntary but obtained through intimidation, abuse, and pressure. Where a Hindu minor is abducted, violated, and then forced to adopt another faith under duress, the conversion cannot be treated as genuine or lawful. Instead, it becomes a tool of religious domination and humiliation, aimed at stripping the victim of her identity and family ties. In such circumstances, the marriage that follows is not an ordinary civil act but the culmination of a coercive process designed to normalise abuse and erase the victim’s religious identity. The victim's age is a critical factor. Paro was 14 years old, 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 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. The broader context is also relevant. In Pakistan, particularly in Sindh, numerous cases have been documented in which Hindu girls have been abducted, converted to Islam, and married to Muslim men against their wishes. Human rights organisations and minority rights groups have repeatedly highlighted the vulnerability of Hindu girls to such practices. The circumstances of this case closely mirror those documented patterns, where religious conversion is accompanied by coercion, isolation, and abuse. The violence, deception, or humiliation inflicted in such cases is not random, but part of a broader ideological hostility toward Hinduism and its symbols, practices, and adherents. Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert. This mindset does not merely tolerate the existence of another faith but seeks its erasure or assimilation. As a result, Hindus are often targeted not because of who they are as individuals, but because of their religious identity. Here, too, the predatory actions stemmed from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith, which is why this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the conversion and marriage were secured through coercion, violence, and abuse of a child, this case clearly reflects religiously motivated hate. The refusal of local police to register a formal case, and their harassment of the victim instead of protection, further intensify the injustice. For these reasons, the incident has been documented in the hate tracker as a case of predatory proselytisation and religious persecution against a vulnerable Hindu minor. 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 none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the incident occurred. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media, 3 January 2026.