Minor Hindu girl abducted by Muslim occult practitioner, father of 6 children

Case Summary
A 17-year-old Hindu girl was abducted by Rashid, a Muslim occult practitioner from Bahroda village in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. The girl’s father filed a complaint at Kithore police station, accusing Rashid, a father of six, of luring his daughter. The family reported that the girl left home at around 4 AM, taking ₹5.93 lakh in cash, eight tolas of gold jewellery, and expensive clothing. A local villager witnessed her leaving with Rashid. The girl’s family stated that Rashid, who had previously served jail time for murder, manipulated the minor. The next day, villagers protested at the SSP office, accusing the police of inaction. In response, Meerut police deployed additional forces, including PAC, to maintain law and order in the village. Meerut SP (Rural) Rakesh Kumar Mishra confirmed that an FIR was registered, and three family members of Rashid, including his brother and two women, were arrested for aiding him. Rashid, however, remained at large. Police formed two teams and utilized surveillance to locate the accused and recover the girl. The police assured that the case was being investigated thoroughly, and efforts were underway to bring the accused to justice and ensure the girl’s safe return. A copy of the FIR is possessed with the Hinduphobia Tracker.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the category of- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Further, the tertiary category selected under the above-mentioned sub-category is- Family claims grooming. 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. What makes this case worthy of being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime is that the family members of a minor Hindu girl, who is the victim in this case, accused the Muslim man of targeting their minor daughter and grooming her. Since the victim here is a minor, it is evident that the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. 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 they are employed by trusted authority figures in positions of influence. This makes it challenging for parents, to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. Since the underlying offence, in this case, is against a child of a specific faith and involves subtle tactics of indoctrination, which obviously stems from a bias against the Hindu faith, this case has been documented as a hate crime.
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
Arrested

Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both