Minor Hindu boy targeted for forced conversion to Islam through circumcision by Muslims in Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : 30aa7f1 | Location : Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 20 September, 2026

Case ID : 30aa7f1

Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, India

20 September, 2026

Minor Hindu boy targeted for forced conversion to Islam through circumcision by Muslims in Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In Pihani, Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Hindu boy was targeted for forced religious conversion to Islam through circumcision. A few Muslims attempted to circumcise the child without the knowledge or consent of his biological father. The matter came to public attention on 21 September 2026 after an X post by journalist Swati Goel Sharma. She raised concerns over the proposed circumcision and sought police intervention to protect the child. In her post, Sharma stated that attempts were being made to circumcise the Hindu child as part of an effort to convert him to Islam. She further highlighted that the child’s biological father had neither been informed about nor consented to the proposed procedure. She wrote, “Attention @hardoipolice. Under Pihani Thana area, attempts are being made to circumcise this Hindu child for conversion to another religion without the consent or knowledge of the child’s biological father. I have DMed you the details. Please look into this immediately. I have received the information from local residents.” Following the social media post, Hardoi Police responded to Sharma’s post by stating that the Station House Officer of Pihani had been directed to investigate the matter and take necessary action. A subsequent update from Swati stated that the police had contacted the child’s biological father and asked him to participate in the investigation. The Hinduphobia Tracker also attempted to contact Hardoi Police for further information regarding the case but received no response. The Tracker subsequently contacted Swati Goel Sharma, who, at the time of writing, refrained from disclosing additional information, citing the sensitive nature of the matter and the involvement of a minor. Consequently, further details concerning the child’s identity and age, the identities and number of the perpetrators, and the circumstances surrounding the attempted conversion were not disclosed. Swati Goel Sharma subsequently confirmed on her social media handle that the concerned police authorities had initiated an investigation in this case.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected for this case is: Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory selected 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 in discriminatory grounds that have the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his rights 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 documented cases, 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. This case was a clear example of a religiously driven hate crime because a minor Hindu boy was targeted for forced conversion to Islam through circumcision. The attempt to subject a Hindu child to a religiously significant bodily procedure for the purpose of changing his faith demonstrated the religious motivation behind the incident. The fact that the victim is a minor is significant, as the element of consent and a genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. As a child, he lacked the maturity to understand the long-term religious and personal consequences of conversion and was particularly vulnerable to coercion and manipulation. The attempt to circumcise the child as part of his conversion to Islam therefore involved imposing a religious identity on him through force rather than allowing him to exercise independent religious choice. Targeting a Hindu child in this manner demonstrated hostility towards his existing faith and identity and showed that coercive means were being used to facilitate his conversion. The method used to target the child for conversion was circumcision, which holds specific religious significance in Islam and is practised among Muslim males as a marker of adherence to the Islamic faith and way of life. Forced circumcision had historically been used by Muslim extremists and, in accounts of medieval Muslim invasions and conquests in the Indian subcontinent, as a coercive means of forcing Hindus to accept Islam. In this case, the attempt to forcibly circumcise a Hindu child as part of his conversion to Islam demonstrated the use of a deeply religiously significant and permanent bodily procedure as a tool of coercion. This was therefore not a minor or incidental act of bodily modification, but a deliberate attempt to impose an Islamic religious marker on a Hindu child and alter his religious identity by force. The targeting of a Hindu child through such coercive means demonstrated deep-seated religious hostility towards his Hindu faith and identity, while the use of forced circumcision to facilitate his conversion further demonstrated the extent of the religious hostility driving the incident. The fact that the attempted circumcision was carried out without the knowledge or consent of the child’s biological father further demonstrated the coercive manner in which the child was being targeted. A minor cannot independently comprehend the religious significance or long-term consequences of such a procedure. Introducing a child to religious practices associated with another faith as part of a conversion effort gradually detaches the child from his existing religious identity and facilitates his assimilation into another faith. In this case, the attempt to use a permanent bodily alteration as part of the conversion process demonstrated both coercion and the manipulation of a Hindu child's religious identity. Such acts are carried out by Muslim perpetrators due to indoctrination by Islamic theology, which advocates that all non-Muslims, including Hindus (referred to as kafirs), are inferior and subject to subjugation unless they convert to Islam or live under Islamic rule (dhimmitude). These ideas are not mere abstractions; they manifest in actions where non-Muslims, especially Hindus in India, are seen as targets for religious domination, coercion, or humiliation. This theological framework fosters an "us versus them" mindset, in which any assertion of Hindu identity or religious freedom is seen not only as undesirable but as a threat to Islamic supremacy. As a result, perpetrators who are shaped by such teachings feel justified, even morally obligated, to harass, suppress, or violently convert Hindus to Islam. As a result, Muslim perpetrators invoke such doctrines to justify coercive attempts to convert non-Muslims, particularly Hindus, portraying conversion as a means of abandoning Kufr (a state of disbelief in Islam or disbelief in Islam) and attaining salvation. Such acts, therefore, are not isolated but driven by a broader ideological hostility towards Hindus as non-believers and reflect an attempt to impose religious dominance. Since this case meets the parameters of a hate-driven offence, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on the date on which they occurred, rather than when they were subsequently published or brought to public attention. In this case, the exact date on which the attempted circumcision and religious conversion of the minor Hindu boy began could not be conclusively established. Therefore, 21st September 2026, the date on which Swati Goel Sharma first shared the incident on X, has been recorded as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes only.