Case Summary

In Jalalpur, Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, a 12-year-old Hindu girl was lured away and abducted by a Muslim man. The minor girl had gone outside to relieve herself when the accused abducted and raped her. She was also pressured to convert after being taken away. The accused was a wanted criminal in five independent cases. As part of its investigation, the Hinduphobia Tracker team contacted Jalalpur Police Station to confirm the victim's identity and obtain case details. The police confirmed that the victim was a Hindu minor girl and that she had been pressured to convert. The police further stated that the FIR had been amended to incorporate provisions of the POCSO Act and that the accused was also booked under the relevant POCSO provisions. The investigation was still ongoing. According to the FIR lodged by the victim's father, the incident took place on 7 November 2026. At around 6 pm, the 12-year-old girl had gone outside to relieve herself when the accused, Imran alias Nate, a resident of Tarapur in the Kotwali area of Jaunpur, lured and abducted her. When she did not return, her family searched for her but could not find her. Her father subsequently approached the police and requested the registration of an FIR and appropriate legal action. Following the complaint, Jalalpur Police Station registered a case under Case Crime No. 497/2026. The provisions initially invoked included Sections 137(2), 65(1), 352 and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 3 and 5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act. The POCSO Act provisions were subsequently incorporated into the FIR. The police arrested Imran alias Nate in connection with the case as part of a campaign to apprehend wanted criminals. The Superintendent of Police (City) directed the operation, and the Circle Officer, Kerakat, supervised it. A police team led by Inspector Satyendra Vikram Singh and Sub-Inspector Vijay Kumar Singh carried out the arrest. According to the police records, the accused had several previous criminal cases registered against him. In 2018, a case involving murder and destruction of evidence under Sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against him at Kotwali Police Station. Separate cases involving assault and criminal intimidation were registered against him in 2023 and 2025. In 2024, another case involving assault, obstruction of government work and other offences was registered at Line Bazar Police Station. The police team involved in the arrest comprised Sub-Inspector Vijay Kumar Singh, Head Constables Chandan Singh and Arvind Kumar Yadav, and Women Constables Ritu Gupta and Soni Patel.

Case Images

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category: Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, 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, which 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 through harassment, threats, ts or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision, ion 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 included in the Hinduphobia Tracker because a minor Hindu girl was abducted, sexually assaulted and pressured to abandon her Hindu faith. These acts targeted her religious identity alongside abduction and sexual violence. The combination of religious coercion and sexual exploitation made this a serious violation of her religious freedom, personal autonomy and dignity. Primarily, pressuring a Hindu minor girl to abandon her Hindu faith constituted a direct assault on her religious identity, spiritual autonomy and right to preserve her inherited beliefs. Hinduism is not merely a religious label; it encompasses spiritual convictions, cultural traditions, family practices and a civilisational heritage that hold profound significance for Hindus. In this case, the victim was taken away from her familiar surroundings, sexually assaulted and pressured to convert, thereby being placed in an environment of isolation, fear and vulnerability. At just 12 years of age, she was particularly susceptible to psychological pressure and manipulation, which further undermined her ability to resist coercion and exercise independent choice. Taking a minor away from her familiar support system and subjecting her to sexual violence alongside religious coercion created circumstances in which her resistance was severely weakened. The pressure to abandon her faith in such circumstances was therefore not an isolated act but part of the exploitation of her vulnerability to bring about a change in her religious identity. Religious conversion achieved through coercion is not a genuine expression of religious freedom; it is an infringement of that freedom. Pressuring a Hindu girl to abandon her faith therefore represented an attack on her right to remain Hindu without intimidation, manipulation or interference. The attempt to replace her existing religious identity against her wishes struck at the heart of her religious liberty and personal dignity. Moreover, the victim's minority made the exploitation particularly grave. At 12 years of age, she was at a formative stage of mental and emotional development and was especially vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. The accused exploited this vulnerability, subjecting her to circumstances in which her ability to exercise independent choice and understand the implications of religious conversion was severely undermined. The absence of meaningful consent and an independent change of religious conviction made the conversion particularly serious. Thus, the combination of abduction, sexual violence and religious conversion, alongside these criminal antecedents, underscored the gravity of the violation and warranted its documentation in the Hinduphobia Tracker.