Minor Hindu girl abducted, raped, and pressured to convert to Islam for nikah by Muslim man; accused stages fake Hindu marriage
Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh, India 
2 October, 2023
Case Summary
In Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh, a 17-year-old Hindu girl, belonging to the backward community, was abducted, raped, and forced to convert to Islam for nikah (Islamic marriage) by a Muslim man named Jabir Khan and his family members. According to reports, Jabir Khan, a resident of Ranipur, Jhansi district, Uttar Pradesh, came into contact with the victim about two years ago in 2023, when she was just 15 years old. During this time, they began talking to each other, where he persistently pressured her to convert to Islam and perform nikah (Islamic marriage) with him. On 3 October 2025, the accused asked the minor girl to elope with him, telling her that he would perform nikah with her and convert her to Islam. When she refused, he threatened to kill her and ruin her reputation. The accused's brother-in-law, Shahrukh Khan, also threatened to kill her and her family if she did not agree to the nikah. The accused then abducted her and took the girl on his motorcycle to Mau. On 5 October 2025, they reached Kulpahar, where Jabir applied vermilion (Sindoor) on her forehead and put a mangalsutra around her neck so as to manipulate her into believing that he had married her as per the Hindu faith and customs. Following this, Jabir’s father, Abbu Khan, sent the couple to his maternal uncle’s house in Chhatarpur. For the next four days, the accused kept her in Chattarpur and continuously raped her. He later abandoned her in Ranipur and fled. Subsequently, the victim later reached Tikamgarh and filed a complaint at Kotwali police station on 16 October 2025. Based on her statement, the police registered a case against Jabir Khan, his father Abbu Khan, his brother-in-law Shahrukh Khan, and his maternal uncle under sections of rape (376 IPC), provisions of the POCSO Act, the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, and the SC/ST Act. The main accused, Jabir Khan, and Shahrukh Khan were arrested, while the search for Abbu Khan and the maternal uncle was ongoing.
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 - Forced conversion before marriage, with the tertiary category being - Forced to undergo Nikah. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. In such cases, typically, two patterns emerge. First, when the relationship is consensual, and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. The second is when the woman gets into a marriage with the man pretending to share her faith. Later, when the truth is revealed, the man starts pressuring the woman to convert her religion and give up her religious identity. In both the situations, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The other sub-category selected here is - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary categories being - Conversion of 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. The other sub-category selected here is - Assault or threat upon refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu man. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. The other subcategory selected is- Desecration of Hindu symbols in relationship. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces insult and desecration of her faith (Hinduism) and its symbol because of the inherent disregard for polytheism of the non-Hindu partner. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts desecrating the religious symbols of the Hindu partner out of spite for her faith. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The second primary category selected here is - Predatory proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a minor Hindu girl was abducted, raped, and forced to convert to Islam for nikah (Islamic marriage) by the Muslim accused. Firstly, it is important to note here that the victim was a minor, which means the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was 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 or consenting to nikah/marriage, and the Muslim perpetrators purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Additionally, any supposed consent given in such cases is already considered invalid under the POCSO Act. Such acts are not merely criminal in nature; they are ideologically charged, revealing religious prejudice and a calculated intent to alter the religious identity of a minor Hindu girl without her volition. Secondly, in the Islamic faith, the conversion of the non-Muslim partner is seen as a prerequisite for nikah, which is why the accused was pressuring the victim to convert. The purpose of forced religious conversion reveals the intent of the accused to strip the victim of her Hindu identity and impose an Islamic one upon her. Forced conversions such as this do not occur in a vacuum; they are rooted in deep-seated hostility towards the faith of the victim, which makes this a clear case of a crime driven by religious hatred. Thirdly, pressuring a Hindu girl to discard her religious faith and embrace another is a direct attack on her religious identity and dignity. It is not a matter of personal choice; it is coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity, especially when the victim is a minor. Such an attempt reflects religious animosity because the act is not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Fourth, when the victim resisted and refused to convert and marry him, the accused threatened to kill her and defame her. Even his brother-in-law threatened to kill her and her family. These threats were not random acts of violence—they were directly tied to her refusal to give up her Hindu faith. Such acts are not merely personal crimes; in fact, they reveal the lengths to which the accused was willing to go in order to convert the minor Hindu girl. This shows that the Muslim perpetrator specifically targeted the Hindu victim for religious conversion, and when his authority was challenged, he responded with threats of violence to make her comply with his conversion demands. Fifth, the accused performed a fake Hindu marriage by applying vermilion on the girl’s forehead and placing a mangalsutra around her neck, deliberately manipulating her and showing utter disrespect for Hindu religious symbols. As the accused was Muslim and was simultaneously pressuring the victim to convert to Islam, this proves that the accused has no respect for Hinduism or its religious symbols. Sindoor (Vermilion) and Mangalsutra (Black beaded necklace) are highly revered Hindu symbols worn by married Hindu women. Therefore, the staged marriage was not genuine but a calculated attempt to exploit the girl, disrespect her faith, and undermine her cultural and religious identity. The deliberate misuse of sacred symbols in this context constitutes a hate crime driven by religious animosity. Sixth, the accused also abducted her, took her to Chhatarpur, where he raped her continuously for over four days. In such cases, sexual violence serves a dual purpose: physical subjugation and religious humiliation. The intention is to break the victim down, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, so that she can be converted. This is not random violence; it is systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. Even abduction was aimed at isolating her from her community, social circle, and her Hindu identity. In totality, this case represented a clear instance of harassment, coercion, and sexual assault of a Hindu minor aimed at stripping her of her faith. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victim’s professed religion, as Abrahamic doctrines regard non-adherents as subject to dehumanisation until they convert. Consequently, religious conversions, even of minors, are often treated as a badge of honour, with complete disregard for the means employed to achieve them. As these predatory actions originate from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its followers, this case is being documented in the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of the incident based on when the crime occurred, rather than when it is reported by the media. The media reports published this case on 16 October 2025. However, the media reports do not specify the exact date of the beginning of the victim’s ordeal. The victim came in contact with the accused in 2023, and on 3 October 2025, the accused forced the minor girl to elope with him for nikah and conversion, during which she was threatened with death. Considering these two pieces of information, we are using an indicative date of 3 October 2023 as the date of the incident. This date is used for documentation purposes only and represents the estimated beginning of her ordeal.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 1
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
