Minor Hindu boy circumcised, his father induced with money to convert to Islam by Muslim mother and her Muslim lover

Case ID : 9958572 | Location : Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 27 August, 2025

Case ID : 9958572

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

27 August, 2025

Minor Hindu boy circumcised, his father induced with money to convert to Islam by Muslim mother and her Muslim lover

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Case Summary

In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Hindu boy, aged 11, was circumcised and forcibly converted to Islam. Even his father, Ankit Pandey, was offered money to convert to Islam. This act was carried out by the boy’s Muslim mother, Priyanka, and her Muslim lover, Manzoor Hasan. According to media reports, Ankit Pandey, a resident of Thakurganj Campbell Road, Sundar Nagar, worked in a jewellery shop in Ashiana. He married a Hindu woman named Priyanka Pandey, a resident of Rajajipuram Sector-12, in 2013. After some time, Priyanka opened a clothing shop in New Haiderganj, where she came into contact with the accused, Manzoor Hasan alias Saifi, a cloth merchant from Saadatganj Noorbari, who frequently visited her shop. Following this, Priyanka’s shop shut down due to financial losses, and she remained in contact with Manzoor. Later, Manzoor began working as a taxi driver, and Priyanka regularly contacted him. Their closeness grew, without Ankit’s knowledge. Eventually, Priyanka converted to Islam under Manzoor’s influence. On 28th August 2025, Ankit noticed injuries on his son's genitals. When he questioned Priyanka, she told him that she had converted their son to Islam and had his circumcision performed by Laiq Jarra in Nakhas before Muharram. When Ankit protested, Priyanka called Manzoor to their home. Manzoor arrived with some Muslim associates and police personnel, and they pressured Ankit to convert to Islam, offering him large sums of money. When he refused, he was abused, and Priyanka left with Manzoor and the child. Ankit tried to file a complaint at the Ring Road Police Station, but the police took no action. Following his persistence, the police raided Manzoor’s house, which was found locked. Ankit also stated that a policeman told him, “Priyanka does not want to live with you; we cannot take any action.” He further stated that Manzoor came to his house with police personnel. When he resisted, the police took him to the station and beat him. He was released three hours later. The following day, when he attempted to lodge another complaint, the police forced him to write on a blank piece of paper that he did not want any action.

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- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation, or subtle indoctrination. 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. The other subcategory selected is- Conversion/attempts to convert by inducement. Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases therefore are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity forms the very heart of the crime itself. In this case, it is important to begin by recognising that one of the victims is a vulnerable Hindu child aged just 11 years. This 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 perpetrators purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the minor victim. Since this case exemplifies the use of force to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus. The forced circumcision is another deeply disturbing element that underlines the religious animosity of the act. Circumcision is irreversible. For a Hindu boy, it is not a cultural or religious practice, and carrying it out without his consent is a direct attack on his religious identity. By doing so, the perpetrators ensured that the child bears the lifelong physical and symbolic marker of forced Islamic conversion. This is not only an assault on his bodily autonomy but also on his Hindu faith, demonstrating a targeted act of hatred against his religion, Hinduism. When the father, Ankit Pandey, became aware of the abuse inflicted upon his son, he confronted the Muslim mother, Priyanka, and her Muslim lover, Manzoor. Instead of being heard or protected, he faced yet another assault upon his rights. He is summoned, pressured, and lured with large sums of money to embrace Islam. This use of financial coercion is not an act of charity or kindness; it is a deliberate tool to strip a Hindu man of his faith and identity. Conversion offers accompanied by financial inducement are a form of coercion, exploiting vulnerability and attempting to buy a change in religion. Such tactics reveal not tolerance, but contempt for Hindu identity and Hinduism, making it a religiously motivated crime. The hostility does not stop there. When Ankit resists, he is abused and humiliated. Worse still, the state machinery that ought to safeguard him, the police, becomes complicit. Rather than protecting Ankit, police personnel side with the accused, harassing him, detaining him, and using beatings to intimidate him. They then force him to put his signature on blank papers to suppress his right to legal recourse. At every stage, the Hindu victim, Ankit, is denied justice, his Hindu identity treated not with equality, but with bias and discrimination. This showcases systemic bias and prejudice against Hindu victims of religiously motivated hate crimes. In conclusion, all these instances showcase that the crime was motivated by religious animosity towards the Hindu victims due to their faith. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The exact point in time when the minor Hindu child’s forced conversion began is not precisely known in the media reports. However, reports indicate that on 28th August 2025, the father, Ankit Pandey, discovered both his son’s circumcision and was offered money to convert himself. Therefore, the Hinduphobia Tracker records this date as an indicative date of the incident. It is important to note that the Tracker documents the date based on the start of the victim’s ordeal, not the later date when such crimes are reported by the media.