Minor Hindu girl abducted, converted, raped and killed by Muslim man in Pakistan

Case ID : 90a08e2 | Location : Sindh, Pakistan | Date of Incident : Mon, 17 February, 2025

Case ID : 90a08e2

Sindh, Pakistan

17 February, 2025

Minor Hindu girl abducted, converted, raped and killed by Muslim man in Pakistan

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In December 2022, a Pakistani Hindu girl named Chanda Maharaj was abducted from Hyderabad in Sindh. She had testified that she was forced to convert to Islam and married her abductor Shaman Magsi and raped, however, the court instead of allowing the girl to return to her family, handed her over to her abductor and on February 2025, a Pakistani Hindu activist put out a social media post that Chanda Maharaj had been killed. In August 2022, Chanda was abducted by Shaman Magsi in a white car. The family of the victim and activist groups like 'Voice Of Sindh' lodged a police complaint but the police took no action. Chanda was recovered two months later from her Muslim abductors and had a tearful reunion with her family. However, the Sindh court sent her to a medical examination, and it turned out that Chanda was gang-raped. She was then handed back to her abductor as Shaman had produced fake documents in the court which showed that Chanda was converted to Islam and married to Shaman. After almost two years, a Pakistani Hindu activist named Shiva Kacchi made a post on his official X handle in which he said that Chanda was killed by Shaman Magsi. Hindu minorities in Pakistan face persistent persecution, marked by systemic discrimination, violence, and forced conversions. Hindu women particularly young girls, are often abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to Muslim men with little to no legal recourse. Temples are frequently vandalised or destroyed, and Hindu communities are subjected to social and economic marginalisation. Blasphemy laws are disproportionately used against Hindus, leading to false accusations and severe punishments. Many Hindu families are forced to flee their homes due to religious intolerance, living in constant fear of attacks. This sustained persecution highlights the dire conditions for Hindus in Pakistan, where their religious identity makes them targets of oppression.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This incident has been added to the tracker under the primary category of- Predatory proselytisation, and within this, the sub-category selected 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. 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. This incident exemplifies predatory targeting of a Hindu girl through coercion, threats, and systematic pressure to abandon her faith. Chanda Maharaj was not only abducted but also subjected to forced religious conversion, gang rape, and coerced marriage to her abductor. When she sought justice, the court disregarded her testimony and instead legitimised her abduction and abuse by accepting fabricated conversion and marriage documents. This judicial complicity ensured that she was sent back to the very man who had violated her, stripping her of agency and reinforcing the message that Hindu women cannot rely on the state for protection. Her ordeal highlights how harassment and threats were central to the conversion process—her abductor used sexual violence and intimidation to break her resistance, while the legal system reinforced that coercion by validating it under the guise of religious conversion. The eventual news of her killing further demonstrates how such cases are not isolated acts but part of a broader environment of hostility, where Hindu women are targeted precisely because of their faith. This is why the incident is best understood as a hate crime, rooted in religious animosity and designed to weaken and terrorise the Hindu community. Another important aspect that needs to be understood here is that such incidents are not isolated cases; rather, they are part of a persistent and troubling pattern in Pakistan, where Hindu minorities, particularly young Hindu girls, are frequently targeted for kidnappings, forced religious conversions, and marriages to Muslim men. This ongoing trend showcases the systemic discrimination and violence faced by the Hindu community in Pakistan. The Hindu minority has been subjected to various forms of harassment, marginalisation, and abuse since the country’s inception. Another point to highlight is that the victim in this case was a minor. Hence, it negates any genuine element of consent or voluntary change of faith from the outset. Children, due to their ongoing emotional and cognitive development, are especially susceptible to manipulation and indoctrination, making them easy targets for those seeking to exploit religious or social vulnerabilities. When such acts are perpetrated against minors of a specific faith, in this case, Hindus, using abduction and coercion tactics, then they are clear instances of hate crimes and clear violations of both human rights and child protection norms.