Case Summary

In the Thotha village of Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu girl was abused, brutally assaulted and pressured for religious conversion by a Muslim man named Azad alias Imtiaz Ali. The complaint was filed by the victim's maternal uncle, Sandeep Mishra, at the Halia police station. He stated that on 1 January 2026, at around 2 pm, the victim, Kajal Mishra, was returning home from the Pipra market with a neighbour, when the accused, Imtiaz Ali, intercepted her near the Umariya plantation area. He confronted her over a conversation on the mobile phone, after which he verbally abused her and physically assaulted her, causing injuries to her hand and waist. While leaving, he issued a death threat, warning her of serious consequences if the incident was reported to anyone. On the basis of the complaint, the police registered an FIR under Sections 115(2), 352, and 351(3) of the Indian Penal Code. During the course of the investigation, provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021, were also added after facts relating to coercive religious pressure emerged. Subsequently, the accused was arrested by the police from the Ahugi Kala Marg near the Adwa Dam. He was produced before the court and sent to jail, with the police stating that further legal proceedings were ongoing.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory 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 constituted a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime, as the Muslim accused, Azad alias Imtiaz Ali, targeted the Hindu victim, Kajal Mishra, and subjected her to physical assault, verbal abuse, criminal intimidation, and coercive religious pressure. The victim was singled out on the basis of her Hindu identity, with the assault and subsequent threats serving not merely as personal violence but as a means to dominate and intimidate her because of her faith. The attempt to force religious conversion in this context was not rooted in personal conviction or voluntary choice but was driven by intimidation, physical violence, and threats to life. Pressuring a Hindu girl to discard her religious faith and embrace another was a direct attack on her religious identity and dignity. It was not a matter of personal choice; it was coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity. Such an attempt reflects religious animosity because the act was not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Such coercion stripped the victim of her religious autonomy and represented a deliberate effort to subvert and erase her Hindu identity through fear. The use of abuse, assault, and death threats demonstrated contempt for her Hindu identity, transforming the incident into an act of religious subjugation rather than an isolated altercation. Such threats and violence functioned as a tool to suppress resistance and ensure compliance, reflecting a broader pattern in which violence and fear were used to undermine the victim’s faith and agency. Such instances of predatory proselytisation stem from inherent hostility towards the victims' professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to their faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert, making it a religiously motivated crime against Hindus. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.