Minor Hindu girl lured, sexually exploited, blackmailed and coerced to convert to Islam by Muslim man posing as Hindu
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 
11 December, 2024
Case Summary
A minor Hindu girl was lured into a romantic relationship by a Muslim man named Shehzad in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. The accused posed as Himanshu, a Hindu man, on Instagram and gained her trust over nearly a year. Following this, the victim was sexually exploited, blackmailed and pressured to convert to Islam and marry him. This incident came to light when the accused stopped the victim girl while she was on her way to tuition and threatened her to convert to Islam and marry him. The victim was sexually exploited by Shehzad while he was deceiving her with his fake Hindu identity. The accused recorded obscene videos of her while exploiting her, which he then used to blackmail her into converting to Islam. When the victim's family learned about this, they filed a written complaint against the accused Muslim youth at the police station and demanded action against him. The victim's father, accompanied by a Karni Sena official, a Hindu organisation, reached the police station to complain against him. At the time of writing this report, the Aligarh police stated that a case was being registered based on the complaint. Action would be taken after investigating all other aspects.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected is: Crime against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The secondary category selected is: Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary category selected is: 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. The other secondary category selected is- Brainwashed and/or Groomed. The tertiary category selected are- 'Rape and Sexual Assault/Harassment' and 'Conversion of minor'. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. The other secondary category selected is- Forced conversion before marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. In such cases, typically, two patterns emerge. First, when the relationship is consensual, and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. The second is when the woman gets into a marriage with the man pretending to share her faith. Later, when the truth is revealed, the man starts pressuring the woman to convert her religion and give up her religious identity. In both the situations, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The other secondary category selected is: Blackmailed to convert When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Another primary category selected is: Predatory Proselytisation. The secondary category selected is: Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories selected are: 'Rape and sexual assault/harassment' and 'Conversion of minor'. 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 grooming or 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 grooming or 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 indoctrinate 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. This case stands as a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime, as the Muslim accused lured the Hindu victim into a relationship by posing as a Hindu. He then sexually exploited her and pressured her to convert to Islam and marry him. Firstly, the Muslim perpetrator's act of deception by posing as a Hindu demonstrates clear bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By hiding his true identity, the Muslim man manipulated the Hindu victim's trust and targeted her under false pretences, revealing a premeditated effort to exploit her based on her religious background. This violated her right to informed consent in relationships and infringed on her religious rights. The accused knew that, as a Hindu, the victim would likely refuse his advances if aware of his real identity, so he circumvented this by lying, a direct pointer to religiously driven intent. This deception mirrors a larger pattern where Hindu women are singled out using false identities by Muslim men, often for coercion or conversion, showcasing deep-seated religious animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs, and marking it as a religiously motivated crime. Another point to highlight is that the victim is a minor. This 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 being in a relationship with an adult or converting to another religion, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the minor victim. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of a religiously motivated hate crime against the Hindu girl. Furthermore, under the deliberate religious deception, the Hindu girl faced sexual exploitation by the Muslim perpetrator under false pretences. This was no random act but a targeted assault driven by religious bias, aimed at singling out and violating a Hindu girl due to her religious identity. Such religiously motivated exploitation through manipulation and religious profiling underlines the hate crime nature. Following this, the perpetrator forced the victim to convert to Islam and marry him, proving his deception and exploitation served the calculated goal of religious conversion. These actions violate the victim's fundamental rights, religious autonomy, and her freedoms. They reflect deep-seated religious hostility and disdain towards Hindus and Hinduism, confirming a clear instance of religiously motivated crime. Forcing a Hindu victim to convert to Islam epitomises deep-seated religious animosity towards Hinduism and the victim's Hindu identity. This coercive act directly assaults the core of Hindu religious autonomy, seeking to erase her innate cultural and spiritual heritage through domination and subjugation. By compelling abandonment of Hindu faith for conversion to another faith, the perpetrator expresses profound contempt for Hinduism, viewing the victim's Hindu identity not as equal but as inferior and worthy of obliteration. Such attempted forced conversion transcends personal coercion; it embodies a targeted hate crime rooted in Islamic supremacist ideology, where the Hindu girl's faith becomes the deliberate object of violation and dehumanisation. The victim also endured severe blackmail from the accused using her obscene photos, with constant threats to convert to Islam and marry him. Deploying blackmail and harassment to coerce abandonment of one's native faith, here, Hinduism, and convert to another faith, constitutes a stark anti-Hindu hate crime. Moreover, the accused relentlessly harassed the victim during her tuition classes, coercing her to convert to Islam and marry her. This persistent targeting amounts to a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime, revealing profound animosity towards the victim's faith. Given that this case meets all parameters of a religiously motivated crime, it has been added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurs, rather than when the media reports it. In this case, media reports do not specify the exact start of the victim's ordeal, only noting it began "one year back," that is, in 2024. The media report on this incident was published on 12th December 2025. Based on this information, an indicative date of 12th December 2024 has been selected as the date of the incident. This is done for documentation purposes only.
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 registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
