Minor girl harassed by two Muslim youths on her way to school, forced to convert to Islam

Case ID : b45f49a | Location : Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 19 December, 2024
Case ID : b45f49a
location Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
date 19 December, 2024
Minor girl harassed by two Muslim youths on her way to school, forced to convert to Islam
Predatory Proselytisation
Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion
Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination
Conversion of minor

Case Summary

In Kanpur's Chakeri area, a minor girl was repeatedly harassed by two youths, Samar and Nawab Ali, while travelling to and from school. Both individuals pressured the girl to convert to their religion and marry them. They also threatened to kill the girl and her father if she refused. The girl's father, a fourth-class employee in the police department, reported the matter to the police, but no significant action was taken. The father then sought help from the Police Commissionerate. He reported that a Muslim woman from their neighbourhood played a key role in the incident, claiming she encouraged the two youths, stating that converting a Hindu girl to Islam would grant her a place in heaven. Despite the father’s employment in the police department, his complaints went largely unaddressed, leaving the family distressed and seeking justice. Hindu organisations approached the police to seek action on the matter.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The case has been added to the database under the prime category- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the first sub-category selected is- Harassment, threat, 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. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted would be documented in another sub-category. 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 sub-category selected here is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination and under this, a tertiary category named- Conversion of minor, has also been selected, 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 details of the case make it evident that the two accused singled out the Hindu minor and harassed her with the sole purpose of conversion. They committed the crime with the specific intention of alienating the victim from her Hindu identity. It is clear that the reason behind this was the perpetrator's bias against the Hindu faith, hence this case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. The details of this case reveal that the Hindu victims were minors, 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 matured, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Moreover, subtle manipulation tactics can be difficult to detect, especially when employed by trusted authority figures in positions of influence. This makes it challenging for parents, to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. Consequently, cases involving religious manipulation of minors not only represent an infringement on an individual's religious freedom but also demonstrate 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 religious-motivated hate crime. For this reason, this case has been added to the 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 Background
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Case Status


Complaint filed

Case Status Background
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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Muslim Extremists

Perpetrators Range


From 2 To 5

Perpetrators Gender


male

Case Details SVG
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