Minor Hindu girls abducted, raped and forced to convert to Islam by Muslim men in Madhya Pradesh
Maihar, Madhya Pradesh, India 
14 January, 2026
Case Summary
In Maihar, Madhya Pradesh, two minor Hindu girls aged 15 and 16 were lured away, abducted, raped and forced to convert to Islam by two Muslim men. The accused were identified as Mohammad Sohrab, aged 23, and Sheikh Bilal, aged 20. The Hinduphobia Tracker contacted the police regarding this case. In our conversation with Inspector Rajkumar Tiwari of Amdara police station, he confirmed that both victims were Hindus from the Yadav community. As per the police, the two victims mysteriously disappeared three to four days ago, around 15 January 2026, and their families searched for them on their own. Meanwhile, after a few hours, both of them returned, and after much questioning by their family members, the victims revealed that the accused Mohammad Sohrab and Sheikh Bilal took them in the car on the pretext of taking them for a ride, where both of them raped the victims. Not only this, but they also pressured the girls to convert to Islam. Following this, on Sunday (18 January 2026) morning, the victims' family filed a complaint at the police station. Police established a search operation and arrested both the accused late Sunday evening (18 January 2026). Police also tried to seize the car used in the crime.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories selected are- Rape and sexual assault/harassment, Conversion of minor. 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 other 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 incident constituted a clear instance of religiously motivated hate crime, as two minor Hindu girls suffered abduction, rape and attempted forced conversion to Islam at the hands of Muslim perpetrators, Mohammad Sohrab and Sheikh Bilal. The girls' Hindu faith directly provoked this vicious attack, with the perpetrators selecting these innocent girls to inflict maximum religious humiliation through sexual violence, followed by attempted forced conversion. Such targeted brutality against Hindu minors exposed the perpetrators' deep animosity towards Hinduism, weaponising rape to degrade their religious identity before demanding submission to Islam. These vulnerable Hindu girls were targeted solely because their Hindu identity ignited the perpetrators' religious hatred. The sequence of luring them away, violating their bodies and pressuring them to renounce Hinduism demonstrated calculated contempt for their faith, using physical trauma to shatter their spiritual resolve. This hate crime hinged on their Hindu status, transforming a personal crime into communal aggression aimed at erasing the Hindu presence through forced religious subjugation. The entire crime showcased selective targeting of the Hindu victims for their religious identity, with the intent to sexually violate them and compel conversion to Islam. Mohammad Sohrab and Sheikh Bilal religiously profiled these Hindu girls, deploying rape not merely for gratification but as a tool to break their spirit and impose Islam on them. In short, sexual violence was used for religious domination and cementing the act as blatant anti-Hindu hatred. The victims' status as minors eliminated any possibility of consent, amplifying the religious coercion at play. Emotionally fragile minors fell prey to coercion, unable to comprehend lifelong religious consequences of conversion, yet the perpetrators exploited this vulnerability with rape followed by attempted Islamic enforcement. This pattern of sexual violation paired with conversion pressure constituted a textbook religiously motivated hate crime, stripping the girls' religious autonomy through force and marking profound animosity towards their Hindu faith. Proselytisation is innate to Abrahamic faiths like Islam, where Muslims adopt coercive, deceptive and forceful techniques to convert non-Muslims, particularly Hindus. Islam views non-adherents as enemies and inferior, fuelling doctrinal hatred towards Hindus. Therefore, such predatory acts against Hindu girls stem from this religious animosity, warranting inclusion of this case in the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 2
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 2
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 2
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
