Minor Dalit Hindu girl sexually assaulted, pressured for religious conversion by Muslim men; perpetrators also denigrated Hindu faith
Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, India 
12 November, 2025
Case Summary
In Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Dalit Hindu girl was sexually harassed, abducted, and forced to convert to Islam by four Muslim men named Hamza, Hussain, Akash, and Badal. The accused also insulted Hinduism and glorified Islam. This incident came to light when the 14-year-old victim was abducted by the accused in a car from outside her school on 13th November 2025. The perpetrators fled the scene after taking the victim. Another student who was standing with her witnessed the abduction and immediately informed the school management. The school authorities then contacted the victim’s family over the phone to report the situation. The family lodged a complaint with the local police, who took prompt action based on closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, witness statements, and technical surveillance. Shortly thereafter, the police recovered the girl from a nearby farmhouse. The victim was found to be mentally traumatised. The police also seized the sports utility vehicle (SUV) used in the kidnapping. The family stated that all four accused were residents of their neighbourhood. The victim’s father shared that his daughter had previously mentioned being harassed by the same men. The perpetrators had routinely targeted her and made threatening remarks such as, “Hinduism is bad, Islam is good. If you do not listen to us, we will kill your family.” The accused also sexually assaulted the girl and pressured her to convert to Islam. Based on the family’s complaint, the police registered a case under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act). City Circle Officer Ankit Mishra confirmed that search operations were underway to locate the accused and that arrests would follow soon.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case is being 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 is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation, or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories selected are- 'Rape and sexual assault/harassment' and '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- Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism. In several cases, Hindus are converted or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then, the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down etc begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. In this case, it is first essential to recognise that the victim was a minor Hindu girl. Her age automatically negated any possibility of genuine consent or an informed change of faith. Minors lack the emotional and intellectual maturity to grasp the lifelong consequences of adopting another religion, especially under psychological or physical pressure. The Muslim perpetrators in this case deliberately targeted the victim, who was vulnerable and easy to control, exploiting her innocence for the purpose of forced conversion. The use of coercion, manipulation, and threats to compel a Hindu victim to abandon her religion demonstrates a calculated abuse of power. Such exploitation of a child’s vulnerability to achieve religious conversion constitutes a grave violation of her fundamental rights and clearly qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime. The case represented far more than a single act of violence; it was a calculated crime born out of deep‑seated religious intolerance. The victim, a young Dalit Hindu girl, was abducted, sexually harassed, and coerced to convert to Islam by the accused men. This act was deliberate and motivated specifically by her Hindu faith. Forcing a Hindu to denounce her religion and accept Islam under duress is a direct attack on her religious autonomy and personal dignity. Conversion achieved through intimidation, sexual violence, or fear cannot be considered voluntary. It is a violation of her right to freedom of belief and conscience, and therefore, by its very nature, a hate‑driven act. The perpetrators’ conduct sought not only to harm her physically but to erase her Hindu identity entirely, making this a stark instance of religiously motivated violence. Sexual harassment in this case was not an act of momentary lust but a tool of conversion—a method of psychological warfare designed to subjugate and humiliate the victim for her faith. The perpetrators used sexual violence strategically to weaken her spirit, leaving her traumatised and vulnerable to control. By weaponising assault, they attempted to break her resistance and compel her submission to forced conversion. Such violence is religious in nature, aiming to destroy the victim’s bodily autonomy while attacking her religious identity. This kind of dehumanisation, directed specifically at a Hindu girl because of her faith, exposes the deep hatred and prejudice that underpinned the crime. It transformed an act of harassment into a targeted assault grounded in religious hostility. Furthermore, the perpetrators repeatedly insulted the victim's religion, telling her that Hinduism was inferior and that Islam was superior. This verbal abuse reflected open contempt for her faith and was intended to shame her into abandoning her beliefs. The denigration of Hinduism in their conversations showed that this crime was not spontaneous but ideologically and religiously driven. Such religious ridicule aimed to dismantle her sense of belonging and pride in her faith, turning personal violence into an act of communal hatred. Using the mockery and rejection of Hindu beliefs as a method to enforce conversion illustrates the deep religious animosity driving the perpetrators. This systematic humiliation also amounted to psychological conditioning and attempted brainwashing. By repeatedly asserting that her religion was worthless and that Islam was the only good faith, the perpetrators sought to destroy her spiritual confidence and replace it with submission. This type of psychological abuse went beyond coercion—it was a form of religious indoctrination carried out through fear, degradation, and manipulation. When inflicted upon a minor, this becomes an even more severe crime of both moral and emotional violence. The combination of forced conversion, sexual assault, verbal denigration, and mental conditioning established this as a hate crime grounded in religious enmity against a Hindu girl. The victim further revealed that she was threatened with the murder of her parents if she refused to comply with the demands of conversion and sexual exploitation. Such threats were designed to instil terror and suppress any resistance, effectively using fear as a weapon to force compliance. These threats extended the harm beyond the individual victim, targeting her family and core sense of safety. The use of intimidation to dismantle a child’s faith demonstrates not just hostility but a campaign of religious persecution, meant to destroy her confidence in her upbringing and her community. Given that this case satisfies all parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it is being documented and added to the Hinduphobia Tracker’s hate crime database. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the dates of incidents based on when the victim’s ordeal began, rather than when the matter was reported by the media. In this case, media reports indicate that the victim had been subjected to sexual harassment prior to the incident; however, the exact date when her ordeal began has not been specified. The only confirmed date available is 13th November 2025, when the victim was abducted and the case came to public attention. Therefore, for documentation purposes, 13th November 2025 is being designated as the indicative date of the incident and is officially recorded by the Hinduphobia Tracker as the incident date.
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
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
