Case Summary

In the Jagdishpura area of Agra, a minor Hindu girl was lured and blackmailed into religious conversion by two Muslim men, Arbaaz and Mausim, along with others. According to the complaint filed by the girl's father, the girl was threatened and manipulated by a group that included three men, Mausim, Arbaaz, and Prashant, as well as two sisters named Nivisha and Sandhya, who were friends with the victim. These sisters, who are Hindu and were seen in photographs wearing burqas, were also trapped by Arbaaz and Mausim and were now working for them. Prashant Thakur, who lived on rent in the locality, had called Mausim and Arbaaz to stay with him, along with the two sisters. The two sisters befriended the victim and took her somewhere, where Arbaaz took a selfie with her. This photograph was later used to blackmail the girl for religious conversion. On May 18, 2025, she was threatened and asked to quietly come to the terrace, where she was sexually molested. The girl’s brother witnessed this incident and raised an alarm, after which the accused started throwing bricks and buckets at him. The girl's brother and father were further threatened that fake cases would be filed against them and that the victim's picture would also be uploaded on social media. Based on the father’s complaint, the police have registered a case against five people. As of the date of writing this report, three of the accused were arrested, and the investigation was ongoing.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under multiple categories. The first primary category selected here is: - Predatory proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with the tertiary sub-category being: - Family claims grooming 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 sub-category relevant here 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 second primary category selected here is: - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. This case has been added to the tracker because of the fact that a minor Hindu girl was lured and blackmailed for religious conversions by two Muslim men and their accomplices. She was also sexually molested, and when her brother and father tried to protect her, they were also threatened with fake charges. This not only shows the malicious intent of the accused for religious conversion but also reveals a pattern of intimidation designed to suppress those who resist or try to save the victim. Their ultimate objective of the accused was to compel the minor Hindu girl to give up her religious identity and adopt an alien faith, Islam. It is also reported that two Hindu sisters were trapped and lured into conversion by the accused, who then used them to prey on the minor girl. This further portrays the extent of their religious grooming and exploitation. This happens due to the religious animosity that exists in Islam against non-Muslim. Manipulative tactics such as deception, blackmail, and sexual exploitation are often used for religious conversion, which is driven by hostility toward the Hindu faith. Here, it is important to highlight that the victim was a minor, indicating a lack of 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. This case demonstrates 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 religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. The earliest date mentioned is May 18, 2025, when she was threatened and sexually molested by the perpetrators. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began and not when it was reported, we have considered the date of the incident as May 18, 2025, though the media reported the incident on May 23, 2025.