Case Summary

In the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim man lured a married Hindu woman and converted her to Islam. Hinduphobia tracker has a copy of the FIR, according to which, the woman is the daughter of a Hindu man who is a resident of the village Parwa, under the Vindhyachal police station. The woman was married to a Hindu man, and the couple had been living together for approximately three years and had a young son. Approximately six months prior to the incident, the woman had returned to her parental home from her marital residence. On 11 April 2025, the accused, Irfan approached her and persuaded her to leave with him, and subsequently converted her religion. Upon learning of the incident, the woman's father submitted a written complaint to the Vindhyachal police, requesting immediate legal action. He confirmed his daughter’s identity and age using her official documents, including her academic records and Aadhaar card. The matter was registered under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act. Station House Officer Amit Kumar and his team at Vindhyachal police station took action to apprehend Irfan. Following due procedure, the accused has been sent to jail while further investigation was underway.

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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, and within it, the tertiary category selected is - Family claims grooming. 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 victim’s father filed a police complaint stating that a Muslim man named Irfan lured his daughter and converted her to Islam. It is clear from the FIR that the victim was an adult. Hence, here one could easily argue that as the victim was an adult, she had full agency to choose her religion and relationships. Still, it is important to note that the police charged Irfan under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act. It suggests the authorities suspected the conversion wasn’t entirely voluntary or lawful. Even in cases involving adults, the law takes into account whether coercion, deceit, or pressure played a role—any of which would render the ‘consent’ invalid. Given this context, and especially considering the application of the anti-conversion law, the case appears to carry a clear religious motive. For this reason, it has been recorded in the database as a hate crime.