Minor Hindu girl lured and sexually exploited by a Muslim man; accused has a history of targeting Hindu girls

Case ID : aa4b3da | Location : Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 24 May, 2025

Case ID : aa4b3da

Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

24 May, 2025

Minor Hindu girl lured and sexually exploited by a Muslim man; accused has a history of targeting Hindu girls

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Pattern of targeting Hindu minors

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Case Summary

In Jalgaon district, a 15-year-old Hindu girl was lured by a Muslim man named Aslam Ali Yusuf Ali Sayyed. He has also previously targeted other Hindu girls in a similar way. The Muslim accused is a 29-year-old man and a resident of Amalner. He lured a 15-year-old Hindu minor girl from a village in Chopda taluka under false pretences and called her to Chopda Upazila Hospital in an attempt to abduct her. During this, both were intercepted by some Hindutva activists, who then handed them over to the police. According to the complaint filed by the girl's mother, Aslam had been contacting her daughter repeatedly to have sexual relations with her. The girl had told her family that Aslam had previously engaged in sexual relations with her. Upon learning this, the family had warned Aslam to stay away from the girl. Despite this, he continued to pursue and harass her. As of the date of writing this report, the accused was arrested and produced before the court. A case has been registered against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Investigation revealed that two years ago, Aslam also targeted another minor Hindu girl of Class 8 and deceived her with false promises of marriage. Police investigations into his mobile phone revealed that Aslam had approached and trapped several Hindu girls during wedding events where he worked as a band musician.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary category being: - Pattern of targeting Hindu minor and Rape and sexual assault/harassment. 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. This case has been added to the tracker due to a minor Hindu girl being trapped and lured by a Muslim man named Aslam for sexual exploitation. She was also previously sexually exploited by Aslam. Furthermore, it was also revealed that he had previously targeted another minor Hindu girl of Class 8 on false promises of marriage, and was harassing multiple Hindu girls. It could be said that this incident could potentially be a crime of opportunity where the Hindu girl was simply accessible to the Muslim perpetrator, however, police investigations into his mobile phone revealed that Aslam had approached and trapped several Hindu girls during wedding events. This pattern proves that the religious identity of the victim was central to the crime. This was not an isolated incident or a crime of opportunity, instead, he was specifically targeting Hindu girls. The target wasn't just girls for sexual exploitation, but also the Hindu religious identity of the victim. Additionally, given that the victims were minors, any notion of consent is legally and ethically invalid under the POCSO Act, especially when the other partner is an adult, in this case 29-year-old man. When the victim is a minor, the element of consent and genuine change of conscience is missing ab initio. Minors, due to their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victims. In this case, the pattern of singling out and targeting Hindu girls suggests that the religious identity of the victims was central to the ordeal they faced, therefore, this case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: While the report indicates that the Muslim perpetrator had approached several Hindu girls, based on evidence found on his mobile phone, only two cases involving minor victims are specifically detailed in media reports. Therefore, the database records the victim count as two.