Minor Hindu girl abducted, forcibly converted and married to Muslim man

Case Summary
A 15-year-old Hindu girl, Kajol Meghwar, was abducted in Gulzar Qureshi village, Mirpurkhas, Sindh, Pakistan. She was forcefully converted to Islam and married to a Muslim man. Despite her relatives presenting her birth certificate to the police as proof of her underage status, no action was taken. The family also sought help from the Minority Rights Forum, but their efforts yielded no results. A report by Dawn suggests that the minor victim told the court that she had embraced Islam and wedded the Muslim man, Punhoon, son of Akbar, on their free will on Dec 30, 2024. The condition of minorities, particularly Hindus, in Pakistan, has been deteriorating, with little attention given to their plight. Minor Hindu girls are frequently abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to Muslim men. This pattern has become increasingly common in recent years. Despite these ongoing atrocities, Pakistani authorities have failed to take meaningful action to address or prevent such incidents, leaving the affected communities vulnerable and without justice.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker as a religiously motivated crime under the prime category of- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the first sub-category chosen is- Harassment, threat, 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. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted would be documented in another sub-category. 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. The second sub-category selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination and within this, the tertiary category selected is- 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. In this instance, a Hindu minor girl was kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan, a country that has experienced a persistent pattern of kidnappings, rapes, forced conversions, and ongoing harassment of Hindu minorities since its establishment. 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 able to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Moreover, subtle manipulation tactics can be difficult to detect, making it challenging for parents, to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. Since the underlying offence, in this case, is against a child of a specific faith and involves subtle tactics of indoctrination, which obviously stems from a bias against the Hindu faith, this case has been documented as a hate crime. Furthermore, though the report by Dawn claims that the minor Hindu victim said that she converted of her own volition, it is important to understand that when the victim is a minor, the "consent" to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult is redundant- addressed by POCSO. Thus, it is evident that a Hindu minor was converted against her will in this case, as opposed to it being voluntary. It is very much possible that she may have been threatened and forced into saying that the marriage was consensual. In Pakistan, numerous cases have been reported where Hindu minor girls have been abducted, forcibly converted, and married to their abductors. In many instances, the victims are coerced into claiming that they married on their own free will, or the police assert that the marriage occurred voluntarily. The Hinduphobia tracker has documented several such cases, the link to a few such cases has been attached here for reference. However, it is important to emphasize that when the victim is a minor, any "consent" to conversion or entering into a romantic relationship with an adult is invalid under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, rendering such claims legally and ethically untenable. Since the underlying offence in this case is against a minor girl of a specific faith and involves subtle tactics of indoctrination, 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
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown