Minor Hindu girl deceived and sexually exploited by Muslim youth posing as Hindu; assaulted and threatened upon discovery of his identity

Case ID : 30ab1d4 | Location : Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 9 September, 2026

Case ID : 30ab1d4

Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh, India

9 September, 2026

Minor Hindu girl deceived and sexually exploited by Muslim youth posing as Hindu; assaulted and threatened upon discovery of his identity

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Case Summary

In Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh, a minor girl was deceived and sexually exploited by a 17-year-old youth, who pretended to be a Hindu. The accused contacted the victim through Instagram by posing as a Hindu youth named Mayank. Subsequently, he lured and established a relationship with her on the false promise of marriage. On 10 September 2026, when he found her alone at home, he established physical relations with her. He subsequently assaulted and threatened to kill her when she questioned him after discovering his name on his Instagram account. The Sector-1 Police registered FIR No. 612/26 on 16 October 2026 under relevant provisions of the POCSO Act and the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act. Inspector Praveen Thackeray and Sub-Inspector Sapna Dodiya were investigating the case. This was the second such case involving the same accused, who had previously deceived another minor Hindu girl in Pithampur by posing as a Hindu and concealing his Muslim identity, before sexually exploiting her on the promise of marriage (FIR No. 611/26).

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected in this case is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The sub-category selected is: Man pretends to be Hindu, with the tertiary category being - Name changed. 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 deceived and sexually exploited by a Muslim youth, who pretended to be Hindu. The perpetrator 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. In such instances, identity concealment is not just a deceptive tactic for personal reasons but a calculated strategy rooted in religious profiling and targeting. The perpetrator was aware that the victim, being Hindu, would likely refuse his advances if she knew his real identity, and he circumvented this by lying, which directly pointed to a religiously driven intent. This deception reflected a larger pattern where Hindu women are specifically singled out using false identities by Muslim men, often with coercion or conversion in mind. Such targeted victimisation based on religion not only demonstrated a fundamental disregard for Hinduism but also exposed a deeper animosity toward Hindus and their beliefs. It is further 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 consenting to a relationship or sex, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Additionally, any supposed consent given in such cases is already considered invalid under the POCSO Act. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation for the exploitation of a minor Hindu girl, it is a blatant act of religious hate. The circumstances surrounding the exposure of his identity further demonstrate the exploitative nature of his conduct. When the victim questioned him after discovering his name on his Instagram account, the perpetrator resorted to assault and threats to kill her. His response to being questioned involved intimidation and violence rather than addressing the deception. This conduct further compounded the victim's vulnerability and demonstrated the use of threats and physical force to intimidate her when his assumed identity was challenged. Most importantly, this was not an isolated instance of religious misrepresentation. The same accused had previously targeted another minor Hindu girl in a separate incident, registered under FIR No. 611/26, by explicitly posing as a Hindu while concealing his Muslim identity. In that case too, he exploited the victim sexually under the promise of marriage. The recurrence of this conduct against two separate Hindu minor girls establishes a deliberate pattern of approaching Hindu girls through fabricated Hindu identities rather than an incidental instance of misrepresentation in a single relationship. The accused repeatedly used religious deception to gain the trust and access of Hindu minors, demonstrating deliberate religious profiling and selective targeting. His repeated adoption of a false Hindu identity while approaching Hindu victims establishes that their religious identity was a material factor in the manner in which he pursued them. The repeated use of fabricated Hindu identities to approach and exploit Hindu minor girls cannot be viewed merely as ordinary relationship deception divorced from its religious context. The accused deliberately assumed a religious identity different from his own to gain the trust of Hindu victims, and the recurrence of this method across two separate incidents demonstrates a pattern of religiously selective targeting. The combination of religious misrepresentation, sexual exploitation of vulnerable Hindu minors and intimidation when the deception was questioned provides grounds for classifying the incident as a religiously motivated crime. Accordingly, this case meets the parameters of the Hinduphobia Tracker and has been included in its database.