Minor Hindu girl molested and kidnapped by Muslim man; family receives death threats, threats of forced conversion and marriage

Case ID : 90a0ae7 | Location : Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 18 March, 2025

Case ID : 90a0ae7

Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India

18 March, 2025

Minor Hindu girl molested and kidnapped by Muslim man; family receives death threats, threats of forced conversion and marriage

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Conversion of minor

Family claims grooming

Case Summary

In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Hindu girl was lured and kidnapped by a Muslim man named Tabrez. He later called her parents, threatening to kill the girl and them if they reported the incident to the police. He also stated that he would convert her to Islam, marry her, and flee the country. According to media reports, the girl was harassed and molested by Tabrez for several days. He would repeatedly harass her on her way to school. Distressed, she informed her parents about the situation. Eventually, Tabrez lured her into a love trap and, on March 19, 2025, managed to flee with her. In addition to abducting her, he managed to acquire jewellery and cash from her house. The girl took with her a pair of gold earrings (one tola), two gold rings, a gold chain, a gold necklace weighing two and a half tolas, and Rs 1,26,700 in cash. When the family realised she was missing, they searched for her but were unable to find her. Shortly afterwards, Tabrez called the family and threatened that if they approached the police, he would cut the girl into pieces. He also threatened that he would shoot her family. Desperate to locate their daughter, the family continued searching. Later, Tabrez called again, saying, "I have brought your daughter to Ghaziabad along with all the jewellery. I will convert her to Islam and marry her. I will leave this country and go to Nepal." The parents reached out to the Hindu organisations and the police for help. The incident sparked outrage among local Hindu organisations, who demanded strict action from the police. A case was registered against the accused under Sections 87 and 351(2) of the IPC at Izzatnagar police station, and the police launched a search for him. The girl’s family urged the police to apprehend the accused and also appealed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to rescue their daughter.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category in this case is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The first subcategory under this is: Brainwashed and/or groomed. The tertiary categories under this is: Rape and sexual assault/harassment, Conversion of minor, 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 second subcategory under this is: Torture of family to force woman to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is forced to convert her religion. Several methods are used for such forced conversion. The non-Hindu man is often documented to issue threats and even employ violence. One of the ways used by such perpetrators is threatening and/or torturing the family members of the Hindu woman to pressure her to convert. The perpetrators in such cases issue threats to harm or torture the family of the woman. In some cases, there is also violence directed towards the family to force the Hindu woman to convert. Such crimes aim to blackmail the victim into changing her religion by inducing fear of harm to her family. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The Bareilly case is a clear example of a religiously motivated hate crime against a Hindu minor. It meets multiple criteria under the recognised categories of faith-based persecution. The crime began with repeated harassment of the girl on her way to school, which later escalated into abduction. This shows deliberate grooming, where the perpetrator exploited the minor’s vulnerabilities over time. The religious motive is explicit, as the perpetrator clearly told the victim’s family that he would convert her to Islam, marry her, and leave the country. He threatened to kill both the girl and her family if they resisted or went to the police. The case also fits the category of forced conversion. Since the victim is a minor, any consent for a relationship or conversion is legally invalid. 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 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. In this case, the perpetrator’s own statements show that conversion was his main goal. The theft of jewellery and cash from the victim’s home shows planning and intent, not a spontaneous crime. His threats to harm and kill the girl’s family also fit the subcategory of torturing relatives to force a conversion, showing that he intended to use fear for the family’s safety as leverage. This is not just an ordinary kidnapping. Three key points show it is a hate crime: first, conversion to another religion was the perpetrator’s stated objective; second, the victim was targeted specifically because she was a Hindu minor; third, conversion was used both as a means to control the victim and as the ultimate goal, erasing her Hindu identity. Similar cases show that such crimes are not just personal disputes but acts of ideological violence.