Case Summary

In Sindh, Pakistan, a Hindu woman was abducted, subjected to pressure to abandon her Hindu faith and convert to Islam, and sexually and physically assaulted by Muslim individuals. This incident came to light after Nikhil Chandwani, a Hindu rights activist based in India who rescues and rehabilitates Hindus from Pakistan fleeing religious persecution, narrated the case on his official Instagram handle on 5 November 2026. In the video posted on his Instagram handle, the victim appeared visibly scared, and she described being forced, physically and sexually assaulted, and threatened, while expressing fear of giving a statement against those responsible. This case highlights the persecution faced by the Hindu minorities in Pakistan, marked by systemic discrimination, violence, and forced conversions. Hindu women, particularly young girls, are often abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to Muslim men with little to no legal recourse. Temples are frequently vandalised or destroyed, and Hindu communities are subjected to social and economic marginalisation. Blasphemy laws are disproportionately used against Hindus, leading to false accusations and severe punishments. Many Hindu families are forced to flee their homes due to religious intolerance, living in constant fear of attacks. This sustained persecution highlights the dire conditions for Hindus in Pakistan, where their religious identity makes them targets of oppression.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected in 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 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. This case was a clear example of a religiously motivated hate crime because a Hindu woman was abducted, subjected to sexual and physical assault, threatened and pressured to abandon her Hindu faith and convert to Islam. The overall nature of the case, along with the victim's statement of being forcibly converted, physically assaulted and sexually violated, further demonstrated the religious dimension of the crime. The circumstances showcased that the victim's Hindu identity was central to the violence and coercion inflicted upon her. Firstly, the fact that this incident occurred in Pakistan starkly illustrates the exploitation of vulnerable Hindu minorities through coercion and force. Such incidents are not isolated cases; rather, they are part of a persistent and troubling pattern in Pakistan, where Hindu minorities, particularly young Hindu girls, are frequently targeted for kidnappings, forced religious conversions, and marriages to Muslim men. This ongoing trend showcases the systemic discrimination and violence faced by the Hindu community in Pakistan. The Hindu minority has been subjected to various forms of harassment, marginalisation, and abuse since the country’s inception. In this case, the abduction of the Hindu woman demonstrated the religious dimension of the offence from the outset. Her abduction was not carried out for an ordinary criminal motive such as financial gain, property-related disputes or any other material purpose. She was subjected to religious coercion, physically assaulted, threatened and sexually violated because of her Hindu identity. The fact that her abduction was accompanied by pressure to abandon her Hindu faith and convert to Islam established a clear connection between the violence inflicted upon her and the religious persecution she endured. The abduction therefore formed the first stage of a religiously motivated offence directed at depriving a Hindu woman of her religious identity, autonomy and right to remain within her faith and community. The fact that the Hindu woman was subjected to sexual assault further demonstrated how sexual violence was used as a tool of religious coercion in the course of the offence. She was sexually violated while being pressured into abandoning her Hindu faith and converting to Islam. The physical violence inflicted severe physical and psychological trauma upon her and was used to break her spirit, undermine her resistance and place her in an increasingly vulnerable and submissive state. In this context, the sexual violence was not merely an act of sexual gratification but formed part of the coercive process used to weaken the victim and pressure her into abandoning her Hindu identity. The deliberate use of sexual violence against a Hindu woman to break her resistance and facilitate religious coercion demonstrated a clear instance of religiously driven sexual violence and persecution. The pressure to abandon her Hindu faith and convert to Islam represented a direct violation of the victim's religious autonomy, fundamental rights, and freedom to retain and practise her Hindu faith. A religious conversion could only be considered voluntary when a person made such a decision with their own full and informed consent and out of a genuine, personal conviction towards the faith they chose to embrace. In this case, however, the circumstances were coercive from the very beginning, as the victim was abducted, physically assaulted, threatened and subjected to sexual violence while being pressured to convert to Islam. Her conversion therefore cannot be considered voluntary in any sense, as she was deprived of the ability to make a free and informed decision regarding her religious identity. She was pressured to abandon the faith into which she had been born, effectively treating her Hindu beliefs and identity as something that could be forcibly discarded and replaced. The victim's visible fear and reluctance to give a statement against those responsible further demonstrated the extent of the intimidation and coercion she had endured. Taken together, these acts demonstrated religious hostility towards the Hindu community and a deliberate instance of attempting to deprive a Hindu woman of her faith identity. Overall, since this case meets the parameters of a religiously driven hate crime, it is added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. 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 first reported in the media, 5 November 2026.