Mohd Irfan of Sindh kidnaps, rapes and forcibly converts minor Hindu girl
Sindh, Pakistan 
2 October, 2024
Case Summary
In Pakistan's Sindh, a 14-year-old Hindu girl named Rakhi was kidnapped, raped, and forcibly converted to Islam. The perpetrator was identified as Mohammad Irfan. In response to Rakhi’s case, the Hindu Sindh Foundation worked to contact her family to gather more information regarding the details of her abduction.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the hate tracker under the prime category of Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category selected here is- Proselytisation by brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Further, within this sub-category two tertiary categories, namely, 'Rape and sexual assault/harassment' and 'Conversion of minor' have been selected as per case details. 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 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 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 existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinated victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. In this instance, a Hindu minor girl was first kidnapped. This itself is a severe form of intimidation. Then she was raped and forcibly converted to Islam. The incident happened in Pakistan, a country that has experienced a persistent pattern of kidnappings, rapes, forced conversions, and ongoing harassment of Hindu minorities since its establishment. The purpose behind the violence employed was to coerce the victim to abandon her faith and accept Islam. The underlying motivation of predatory proselytisation itself is animosity towards the professed faith of the victim. In this case, there was violence involved in the pressure exerted to forcefully convert the Hindu girl. Further, the central aim of the perpetrators was to disenfranchise the Hindu girl from her professed faith. This troubling trend reflects systemic discrimination and violence against Hindu communities, where vulnerable individuals, especially young girls, are targeted for coercive religious conversion. Further, it is evident from the details that the Hindu victim was a minor which essentially means that the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. It is a well-established fact that children are more susceptible to manipulation since they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully matured, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Since the underlying offence, in this case, is against a child of a specific faith and the central motivation of the perpetrator is religion, which obviously stems from a bias against the Hindu faith, this case has been documented as a hate crime.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
