Minor Hindu girl goes missing, Muslim neighbours had taken her away with the intent to convert and marry her off
Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, India 
23 September, 2024
Case Summary
A minor Hindu girl went missing from her home in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. The mother of the victim filed a complaint against Farheen wife of Zafar Khan, Zafar's father Rubab Khan, Aqeel's father Bashir Khan and four others, accusing them of luring her daughter away with the intention of converting her religion and marrying her off in the Muslim community. Investigation into the case also revealed that the accused planned to change the name of the minor and get her married in their community. The victim was recovered and handed over to her parents. The three known accused were arrested while the police were on the lookout for the 4 others.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker as a religiously motivated hate crime under the prime category of- Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category and tertiary category selected are- 'Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination' and 'Family claims grooming', respectively. 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. Here, the details reveal 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 and the Muslim perpetrators purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of religious hate, which is why it has been documented here in the hate tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
