Minor Dalit Hindu girl abducted on gunpoint by Muslim men in Pakistan, victim's family fears forced conversion and marriage
Badin, Sindh, Pakistan 
22 June, 2025
Case Summary
In the town of Matli, in the Badin district of Sindh province, Pakistan, a 15-year-old Dalit Hindu girl was abducted from her home at gunpoint by two Muslim men and their accomplices. The victim’s family feared that Shanila would be forcibly married and converted to Islam. The two Muslim men were identified as Maqsood Dars and his brother, Mansoor Dars. They were accompanied by two other men, and all four were involved in the abduction. According to media reports, the victim is a class 9 student. Her abduction caused profound emotional distress for her family. The victim's uncle, Majnu Maharaj, stated that Maqsood and Mansoor pointed firearms at the family, violently dragged the victim out of the house, and forced her into a white car. The car already had two men sitting inside. Following this, they fled from the spot. Voice of Pakistan Minority (VOPM), a minority rights organisation, stated that the victim's family had lodged a formal complaint, but the police showed no urgency or seriousness in their efforts to recover the victim. VOPM further reported that the victim's family feared that the girl would be forcibly converted to Islam and married to her Muslim abductors. VOPM stated, “The family believes the police are deliberately protecting the perpetrators, leaving them to wonder if the justice system has utterly failed. For the victim's family, the horror of what has happened to her is worsened by the stark reality that many minority girls in rural Sindh face, a future of forced conversion and marriage, a tragic fate that continues to haunt marginalised communities.” According to DSP Matli, Fareed Jatt, only one of the accused, Maqsood Dars, had been arrested. However, the other three accused, as well as the victim, remained untraceable. The Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) officially took notice of the case, particularly in relation to abduction, child marriage, and forced conversion. The Commission requested reports from the police and pledged to monitor the case. However, Hindu activists expressed doubt that institutional involvement would result in any meaningful action. This case highlights the persistent persecution faced by the Hindu minorities in Pakistan, 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 case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected 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. The other subcategory selected in this case is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Within this, the tertiary category selected 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, the minor Hindu girl was abducted by Muslims at gunpoint. Her family feared that she would be forced to convert to Islam and marry her abductors. Since the victim is a minor, the element of consent and genuine change of conscience is 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. The action of the Muslim perpetrators in deliberately targeting the minor Hindu girl showcases that they exploited the vulnerability of the victim. As per the family's statements, the victim would be forcibly converted and married to Muslim men, something that is a common pattern in Sindh, Pakistan. This exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion. Such actions are blatant demonstrations of crimes motivated by religious animosity towards the Hindu victim and her faith. The fear of the family cannot be dismissed outrightly as the incident occurred in Pakistan, a country with a well-documented and repeated history of abducting Hindu women, particularly minors, forcing them to convert, and marrying them off to Muslim men under duress. This entrenched pattern of targeting Hindu girls based on their religious identity, combined with the victims’ age and the context of coercion, firmly establishes this case as a religiously motivated hate crime. This incident is not isolated; it reflects a deeply entrenched pattern of religiously motivated violence against Hindus in Pakistan. Hindu boys, girls, and women are frequently subjected to brutal acts, including sexual violence, abductions, and forced conversions. These attacks are often driven by the belief of religious supremacy in Islam, where the lives of Hindus are considered inferior, which can be violated with impunity. Furthermore, the lack of legal protection, complicit silence of the authorities, and the police perpetuate a climate of fear and injustice. Such cases illustrate how Hindu minorities in Pakistan are deliberately targeted for their faith. Such inaction by the authorities sends a dangerous message that crimes against Hindus will not be dealt with seriously, and such inaction emboldens the Muslim perpetrators. This results in further systematic persecution of Hindus in Pakistan due to their religious identity. Since this meets the parameters of a religiously motivated crime, it is being added to the hate crime database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 1
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
