Minor Hindu girl lured into relationship, groomed for several years, forcibly converted to Islam and married by Muslim man
Chandigarh, India 
15 December, 2018
Case Summary
A minor Hindu girl from Chandigarh was lured into a relationship by a Muslim man named Nazim. The accused groomed her for seven years, forcibly converted her to Islam, and then married her. Following this, he made her elope with him to Budaun in Uttar Pradesh. The entire incident came to light when Vishwa Hindu Parishad official Sanjeev Kumar filed a police complaint. According to the complaint, Nazim, a resident of Bairpur Manpur village who lived in Chandigarh, deceived a minor Hindu girl there, forcibly converted her to Islam, and married her. Hindu organisations stated that the accused deliberately trapped the victim in a love affair for forced religious conversion. They also demanded the immediate arrest of the accused. Reports confirmed that after converting and marrying the victim, the accused took her to Budaun in a small village on 16th December 2025. Here, when local villagers learned about the incident, they informed the police; the accused Nazim, was arrested, and the victim was recovered safely. The police filed a case against the accused, Nazim, for forced religious conversion and presented him in court. Following this, the court sent him to jail. Meanwhile, the police stated that the investigation against the accused continued. However, the case took a new turn when the minor victim said that she had been living with Nazim of her own free will for the past seven years and further claimed that her family had no objection to it. On the other hand, Hindu organisations stated that the victim was a minor and underwent pressure to make such a statement. Station House Officer Dhananjay Singh stated that the young victim was sent to a One Stop Centre for safety. Police recorded statements from the girl's family and examined documents to determine her true age and uncover the truth behind the incident.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or Groomed. The tertiary category selected is- Conversion of minor. 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. Another primary category selected is- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation, and 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. This case constituted a clear instance of anti-Hindu hate crime, as the victim was a minor whose young age rendered any notion of consent or genuine conviction impossible. Minors remain highly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion due to their limited life experience and emotional immaturity, and the accused, Nazim, groomed her over an extended period, systematically turning her to convert to Islam and marry him, which exposed his deep-seated religious animosity towards her Hindu identity. Lacking the cognitive maturity and foresight for permanent life decisions like religious conversion or marriage to an adult, the victim fell prey to the Muslim accused's deliberate exploitation of her vulnerability, who targeted her specifically because of her Hindu background to strip away her faith entirely, marking this as a religiously motivated crime driven by prejudice against Hinduism. The fact that the victim was a minor subjected her to sustained grooming tactics over seven long years, during which Nazim manipulated her emotions, isolated her from her family and community, and gradually reshaped her worldview to the point of conversion and marriage, which showcased profound religious animosity. This prolonged grooming eroded her capacity to make informed, independent choices, thrusting an alien Islamic identity upon her prematurely and bypassing the maturity required for such profound transformations that demand full adult agency. Even her later statement of willing cohabitation failed to negate the inherent coercion, as her minor status at the time of grooming and the extended manipulation confirmed forcible conversion through deceit and psychological control, rendering it a blatant assault on her Hindu roots and cultural heritage. Grooming and manipulation techniques employed to erase a Hindu victim's religious identity amounted to a clear instance of religiously motivated hate crime, as the accused sought not mere persuasion or dialogue but the complete annihilation of her Hindu essence, eradicating her devotion to Hindu faith and traditions, before imposing an Islamic identity upon her. This targeted eradication of her original faith stemmed from deep animosity towards Hinduism itself, viewing Hindu adherents as inferior and in need of conquest, making it a religiously motivated crime. Given that this case meets the parameters of an anti-Hindu hate crime, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records dates of incidents based on when the crime occurred or when the victim's ordeal began, rather than when the media reported it. Media reports in this case did not state the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, mentioning only the date when the accused brought her to Budaun on 16th December 2025, alongside information that he groomed her for seven long years. Hence, 16th December 2018 is being selected as the indicative date of the incident. This is being recorded for documentation purposes only.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
