Minor Hindu girl lured into a relationship; pressured to convert for marriage by a Muslim juvenile
Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
3 February, 2025
Case Summary
In Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, the brother of a minor Hindu girl accused a Muslim minor boy of luring his sister into a relationship and then pressuring her to convert her religion for marriage. In what transpired, on February 4th, 2025, the minor Hindu girl was seen with a minor Muslim boy in a restaurant in the city. The girl's brother arrived there and confronted the Muslim boy. He took his sister home following an argument with the boy. Two days later, on February 6th, 2025, the girl went missing. The girl's brother accused the Muslim boy of luring his minor sister. He also alleged that the accused pressured her to convert to Islam for marriage. The brother of the girl filed a police complaint. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under the POCSO law and the Prohibition of Religious Conversion Act. The Muslim boy was arrested and sent to a juvenile correction home. The girl, meanwhile, was sent for a medical examination and after that handed over to her family.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added as a religiously motivated hate crime under one category of the tracker, which is- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the first sub-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. The relationship in such cases is mostly 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. In such cases, 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 second prime category under which this case has been placed is- Brainwashed and/or groomed and within this, the two tertiary categories chosen are- 'Family claims grooming' 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 hate crimes. The case of the Hindu minor girl from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, is a clear example of a religiously motivated crime, where coercion, kidnapping, and manipulation were used to force her conversion to Islam before marriage. The brother of the victim testified that she was lured into a relationship by the Muslim perpetrator. She was groomed and taken away. Efforts were on to systematically strip away her religious identity by coercing her into conversion through promises of marriage. These actions signify a deliberate effort to force the Hindu minor to abandon her Hindu identity and adopt a different religious practice. The intent to strip her of her religious identity through deception shows religious animosity, making this a hate crime. It highlights a broader pattern where vulnerable individuals are targeted based on their religion, with the aim of coercing them into abandoning their faith through intimidation and violence. It is important to note here that since the Hindu victim was a minor, 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 converting to another religion and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Since the religious motive of the crime is evident from these facts, 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
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
