Minor Hindu girl raped under pretext of marriage, forced to convert to Islam and marry by Muslim man
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
2 June, 2021
Case Summary
In Hitkari Nagar, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Hindu girl was raped under the pretext of marriage by a Muslim man named Javed Khan. The accused then pressured the minor to convert to Islam and marry him. Hinduphobia Tracker contacted the local police regarding this case, and the police confirmed that the victim was a Hindu girl. According to reports, Javed Khan lured and raped the minor girl four years ago. He was already married and was a father of two children, but despite this, he continued to lure the minor into a relationship with the promise of marriage and repeatedly raped her. He began pressuring the girl to convert to Islam and marry him. He told the victim that, in his religion, a man can marry four women. The girl's mother initially hesitated to file a police complaint due to fear of social stigma. Distressed by Javed’s persistent grooming and predatory behaviour, the victim’s mother eventually mustered courage and filed a police complaint against him for raping and pressuring the victim to convert to Islam and marry him. The police registered a case, and soon after that, Javed absconded. Abhishek Pandey, ACP of Kalyanpur, said that a case was registered against Javed Khan. He also said that the police began an investigation into the angle of forced conversion and marriage. The victim's statements were then recorded, and she was sent for a medical examination. Upon learning of the case, Bajrang Dal officials also arrived at Rawatpur police station with the victim’s family. There was an uproar demanding the registration of a report and the immediate arrest and imprisonment of the accused. The police subsequently managed to arrest the accused.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/ or Groomed. The tertiary category selected is- Conversion of Minor, Rape and Sexual Assault/ Harassment, and Family claims Grooming. 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 subcategory selected is- Forced Conversion before marriage. The tertiary category selected is- Forced to do Nikah. In such cases, a non-Hindu man marries a Hindu woman, and the force/pressure to convert to Islam begins after marriage. 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. The marriage could be under the Special Marriages Act, where neither parties are required to convert their religion for the marriage to be considered legitimate. While the victim in such cases enters matrimony assuming that religious identity is not a barrier, the non-Hindu man starts to pressure the woman to convert to Islam after marriage. 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 situations, there is application of force by the perpetrator, including the denial of the woman’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the woman is forced/pressured to convert include force-feeding beef, being forced to read the Kalma, being forced to wear a hijab, forced to undergo Halala, etc. There are several instances where, after marriage, the woman voluntarily converts to Islam. Such cases are often argued to be a result of religious brainwashing, however, for the purpose of documenting religiously motivated hate crimes, in the absence of the victim complaining of forced conversion, such cases do not form a part of the database. In this case, the minor girl was lured and raped by a Muslim perpetrator under the pretext of marriage, and then forced to convert to Islam and marry him. The criminal acts of sexual violence were motivated by religious bias and an intent to target the victim based on her religious identity. The accused exploited the minor’s vulnerability and trust, committing rape under the guise of marriage. Thereafter, he pressured her to give up her faith and adopt an alien one, Islam. Such acts, when carried out with an awareness of the victim’s religious background, can be interpreted as crimes motivated by prejudice or hatred towards the Hindu victim, due to her faith. The minor Hindu victim in this case was pressured to convert to Islam and marry the perpetrator. Such acts of grooming and pressuring minors to convert to the perpetrator’s faith clearly indicate that the crime was religiously driven. Forcing someone to abandon their faith and adopt another religion constitutes an attack on the victim’s religious identity. The Muslim perpetrator aimed to groom and sexually exploit the girl in order to further his underlying agenda of religious conversion and marriage. Such instances are premeditated efforts to strip the Hindu victim of her religious identity and are often carried out by Muslim perpetrators due to deep-seated animosity towards the victim’s Hindu faith. It is also important to note that, as the victim in this case is a minor, there was a complete absence of both consent and genuine change of conscience. It is well established that children are more susceptible to manipulation, as they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully mature, making them more vulnerable 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 coercion. Consequently, cases involving the religious manipulation of minors not only represent an infringement on an individual’s religious freedom but also demonstrate a calculated strategy of targeting those less able to resist or understand the long-term implications of conversion, making this a significant case of religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. The earliest indication is that the victim was raped 4 years ago for the first time. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began and not when it was reported, we have used an indicative date of 3rd June 2021, though the media reported the incident on 3rd June 2025.
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
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
