Minor Hindu girl lured and converted to Islam under false promise of marriage

Case ID : aa4b1fe | Location : Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 3 May, 2025

Case ID : aa4b1fe

Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India

3 May, 2025

Minor Hindu girl lured and converted to Islam under false promise of marriage

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Family claims grooming

Conversion of minor

Case Summary

In the Khadda police station area of Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Hindu girl was lured away under the promise of marriage by Muslim youth, and her mother reported that she was converted to Islam. The girl is originally from the Maharajganj district. She had recently travelled to her maternal grandparents’ home in a village under the Khadda police station limits. On May 4, a youth from a Muslim community, a resident of the same area, lured her away under the false promise of marriage. Upon discovering her disappearance, the girl’s mother made repeated attempts to locate her but was unsuccessful. She subsequently approached the police and filed a formal complaint. In her statement, she reported that her daughter had been induced to leave home and convert her religion as part of a deceitful scheme orchestrated by the Muslim youth. The police initiated an investigation into the matter based on the mother’s written complaint.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker un the primary category of - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The sub-category selected here is - Brainwashed and/or Groomed, with the tertiary sub-categories being - Family claims grooming and 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. In this case, the child was a minor. The mother of the 14-year-old stated that the Muslim perpetrator lured her away under the promise of marriage. The mother also reported the conversion angle. The mother's testimony is vital in establishing the brainwashing angle, as it provides direct insight into how her minor daughter was deceptively lured away under the false promise of marriage and subjected to religious conversion. It is also important to mention that since the victim, in this case, is a minor, there was an absence of both consent and a genuine change of conscience. It is a well-established fact that children are more susceptible to manipulation since they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully mature, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Moreover, subtle manipulation tactics can be difficult to detect, making it challenging for parents to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. Consequently, cases involving religious manipulation of minors not only represent an infringement on an individual's religious freedom but also demonstrate a calculated strategy of targeting those who are less able to resist or understand the long-term implications of conversion, making it a significant case of religious-motivated hate crime.