A minor Hindu girl abducted in Sindh, Pakistan, feared to have been forcibly converted and married off

Case ID : 90a0b1d | Location : Sindh, Pakistan | Date of Incident : Mon, 17 March, 2025

Case ID : 90a0b1d

Sindh, Pakistan

17 March, 2025

A minor Hindu girl abducted in Sindh, Pakistan, feared to have been forcibly converted and married off

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

A case came to light where a 13-year-old Hindu girl was abducted by Islamists near the Golarchi area of Sindh, Pakistan, and was feared to have been forcibly converted and married off. According to the victim’s family, the girl was kidnapped nearly a week ago and has not been seen since. The family said that the abductors held her captive and threatened them to prevent any effort to recover the child. Despite repeated appeals for help, the authorities failed to take action, reflecting the ongoing pattern of abductions and forced conversions of Hindu girls in Sindh. The Hindu community in Sindh raised serious concerns over the safety of Amriya and other minor girls belonging to religious minorities. They demanded immediate action to rescue Amriya, ensure her safe return, and hold the perpetrators accountable.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Predatory Proselytisation. The sub-category relevant under this is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Within this, the tertiary categories selected are- 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. The second sub-category relevant here is- Harassment, threats, 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. Hindu minorities in Pakistan face persistent persecution, marked by systemic discrimination, violence, and forced conversions. Hindus, particularly women and 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. This case too, is a glaring example of the persecution Hindu women are facing in the Islamic country. It qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime because it reflects a recurring pattern of targeting Hindus in Sindh, Pakistan through abductions and forced conversions. The victim, a Hindu minor, was abducted — a tactic often employed to exploit the vulnerability of minority communities, particularly Hindus. Such cases are driven by religious animosity with the deliberate aim of erasing the Hindu identity of the victims and forcibly assimilating them into a contrasting faith. This systematic targeting of Hindu minors in Sindh is not merely a criminal act but a manifestation of religious hatred and a tool of demographic and cultural aggression against the Hindu community. It is further 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 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.