Hindu infant falsely listed as adopted after mother's death, converted to Islam by Muslim couple

Case ID : 90a09b9 | Location : Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 16 February, 2025

Case ID : 90a09b9

Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India

16 February, 2025

Hindu infant falsely listed as adopted after mother's death, converted to Islam by Muslim couple

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Case Summary

In Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, a two-and-a-half-month-old infant was abducted from Bundelkhand Medical College after her mother, Vimla Dhakad, passed away during treatment. The accused, Shabana, who was admitted to the same hospital, took the child and changed her identity to "Fatima" in official documents. The matter came to light when the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) found discrepancies in records, revealing that the baby had been falsely listed as adopted. Investigations further uncovered that Shabana and her husband had declared themselves as the infant’s parents. The child was rescued by the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and placed in Matrichhaya Ashram. Meanwhile, the accused couple claimed they took the orphaned infant, and her five-year-old brother, out of compassion and had applied for legal adoption.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The case has been added to the tracker under the category- Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination and the tertiary category chosen 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. This case is a clear instance of predatory proselytization, as it involves the deliberate targeting of a vulnerable Hindu infant to erase her religious identity and impose a new one. The accused, Shabana, abducted the two-and-a-half-month-old child from the hospital after the mother’s death and deceptively registered her as "Fatima" in official records. This act was not merely an illegal adoption but a calculated move to alter the child's identity, stripping her of her Hindu roots and placing her in a new religious framework without consent. The renaming and falsification of documents highlight coercion, as the infant had no agency in this forced transformation. Additionally, this act aligns with a pattern where minors, especially those in vulnerable conditions, are subtly indoctrinated or groomed into a different faith through manipulation and deception. The accused and her husband not only abducted the infant but also claimed guardianship under fraudulent pretenses, further reinforcing the intention of forced conversion. The very intention of converting someone by exploiting their helplessness is rooted in religious animosity, making this a clear case of a hate crime.