Minor Hindu girl rescued from Kota after being lured away; Muslim youth arrested

Case ID : aa4b1ff | Location : Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 10 May, 2025

Case ID : aa4b1ff

Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, India

10 May, 2025

Minor Hindu girl rescued from Kota after being lured away; Muslim youth arrested

Undecided cases

Consensual relationship with Hindu minor

Case Summary

In Kota, Rajasthan, a Muslim man was arrested in a train. He had lured away a minor Hindu girl. After a medical examination, the police handed the girl back to her father. The girl is originally from Ranapur, Madhya Pradesh. The incident occured around 1 a.m. The minor was sleeping in a room with her family when her father woke up and found her missing. Despite searching with relatives and neighbours, she was nowhere to be found. The next morning, the girl’s father filed a missing person report and expressed suspicion towards a youth named Fardin Khan from the Muslim community, who was also absent from his home. The father suspected the girl had been lured away. By the next evening, as the girl remained missing, Hindu organisations submitted a memorandum to the police demanding her recovery and the youth’s arrest, even threatening a town shutdown. The police continued their search efforts. On Monday evening, the municipal council ordered a bulldozer operation on the youth’s shop near Jhabua Naka. On 13th May, Police Station In-Charge Dinesh Rawat stated that 22-year-old Fardeen Khan was arrested from Kota, Rajasthan, along with a minor girl and brought to the police station. After medical examinations, the girl was returned to her father. A case was registered against Fardeen Khan under the POCSO Act, STACC, kidnapping, and other charges. Police were also investigating those who may have aided the youth.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

There is strong suspicion that the Muslim man involved in the kidnapping of the minor Hindu girl may have targeted her based on their religious identity. The fact that the victim was a Hindu minor raises concerns, as it seems unlikely to be a mere coincidence. This situation aligns with a pattern observed in various cases, where individuals from the Muslim community have targeted women and minors from the Hindu community for purposes such as conversion, sexual exploitation, or trafficking. In this case, the possibility that the girl was brainwashed or groomed into leaving with the accused becomes even more likely, given that the father testified that a Muslim man lured the girl away. While it is important to acknowledge that the victim in this case is a minor, making any supposed "consent" legally invalid under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the criteria for inclusion in the hate crime database require a distinct religious motive behind the grooming. However, as the case is still under investigation and the police have not yet made any statements regarding a religious motive, we cannot conclusively classify this case as a religious hate crime at this stage. For these reasons, the case is currently being recorded in the undecided database. Should further information emerge during the investigation, particularly regarding any religious motivation behind the crime, the case will be re-evaluated and reclassified as a hate crime.