2 month old Hindu infant trafficked, sold to Muslim couple for forced religious conversion

Case ID : 90a0a1e | Location : Bara Banki, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 31 December, 2024

Case ID : 90a0a1e

Bara Banki, Uttar Pradesh, India

31 December, 2024

2 month old Hindu infant trafficked, sold to Muslim couple for forced religious conversion

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Case Summary

In Laxmanpuri Colony, Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu infant was abducted and sold to a Muslim couple, Mohammad Yasir and Halima Khatun, for religious conversion and child trafficking. The Hinduphobia Tracker has obtained the FIR for this case. The complainant, Brijesh Kumar Vaishya of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, reported that approximately two months ago, a newborn Hindu child was abducted by Rajesh Verma and handed over to Mohammad Yasir and his wife, Halima Khatun. They intended to convert the infant to Islam and further sell him. The accused in the case have been identified as Mohammad Yasir, Halima Khatun, Birendra Singh, Sanjay Jaiswal, Shakir Ali, and Rajesh Verma. According to the complaint, all the accused conspired to sell the infant. The accused allegedly created fake and forged documents to facilitate the illegal adoption and conversion of the child. According to the FIR, this act was intended to disrupt social harmony. The police registered the case and initiated an investigation under the relevant sections of the BNS Act and the Juvenile Justice Act. On March 9, 2025, the accused, Rajesh Verma and Mohammad Yasir, were arrested by the police.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the primary category 'Predatory Proselytisation' under the sub-category 'Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination'. 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. In this case, an infant was converted to Islam and sold for human trafficking. The act of human trafficking is a crime ab intio, but what qualifies this case as a religiously motivated hate crime is the conversion of the infant. It is important to note here that the victim was a minor, which means 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 perpetrators purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Further, from the facts of the case, it is evident that the perpetrators belonged to both Hindu and Muslim communities. The religious identity of the perpetrators is irrelevant in this case since the conversion to Islam of a minor is in itself a religiously motivated hate crime. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of religious hate, which is why it has been documented here in the hate tracker.