Minor Hindu girl lured, harassed and abducted by Muslim man in Sultanpur

Case ID : cb2809b | Location : Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 24 November, 2025

Case ID : cb2809b

Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

24 November, 2025

Minor Hindu girl lured, harassed and abducted by Muslim man in Sultanpur

Undecided cases

Abduction of minor

Case Summary

In Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Hindu girl was lured, harassed and abducted by a Muslim man named Shahnawaz. According to reports, the minor victim, who was studying in Class 11, was lured and enticed by the accused, Shahnawaz, orignally from Hyderabad district in Telangana, who had been residing in Natauli village. For some time, he was persistently trying to entice the victim, repeatedly harassing her while she went to school. The victim's family had repeatedly informed the police about this harassment, but no action was taken. On October 25, 2025, the accused abducted the minor girl while she went out to purchase supplies. Subsequently, based on a complaint filed by the victim's sister, the police registered a case against the accused under the POCSO Act. Police Captain Kunwar Anupam Singh stated that the matter was being taken seriously and that the accused would be arrested soon.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In this case, a minor Hindu girl was lured, harassed and abducted by the Muslim accused, Shahnawaz. This could potentially be a crime motivated by religious profiling, as it has been observed that in many cases, Muslim perpetrators target Hindu minor girls due to inherent animosity towards Hindus and minors being more vulnerable. Hindu girls are very vulnerable to crimes like rape and sexual assault at the hands of Muslim men. Since the accused was persistently harassing her, it indicates that the accused was already aware of the religious identity of the victim, further pointing towards religious profiling. However, it is also possible that the crime was one of opportunity, where the minor Hindu girl was simply accessible to the Muslim perpetrator. Meanwhile, it could also be argued that for a Muslim man, a Muslim girl would likely be more accessible than a Hindu girl. The fact that the perpetrator specifically targeted a Hindu girl could suggest religious bias. Moreover, the victim was a minor at the time of the incident, thus making any supposed "consent" given for a relationship or elopement from her side legally invalid under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. POCSO is a strict liability law, which means that the intention of the accused or the willingness of the minor is not taken into account when determining culpability. The underlying reason is that children are not considered mentally or emotionally developed enough to make mature decisions about relationships or elopement, which makes them highly vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation. Nevertheless, this remains highly speculative, as the case details provide no clear indication of religious motivations. Furthermore, neither the victim nor her parents made any statements suggesting a religious motive behind the crime. For this reason, the case has been added to the 'Undecided' database. If further information emerges that points towards a religious motivation behind this crime, it would then be reclassified and included in the hate crime database.