Hindu minor girl abducted, forcibly converted, and married in Jacobabad, Pakistan

Case ID : d3272a4 | Location : Jacobabad, Sindh, Pakistan | Date of Incident : Wed, 21 January, 2026

Case ID : d3272a4

Jacobabad, Sindh, Pakistan

21 January, 2026

Hindu minor girl abducted, forcibly converted, and married in Jacobabad, Pakistan

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Family claims grooming

Case Summary

In Jacobabad in Sindh, Pakistan, a 17-year-old minor Hindu girl named Heer Rani was abducted and subjected to religious conversion and marriage to a Muslim man named Naseebullah Pathan. According to local sources and family members, Heer Rani, daughter of Harichand, a resident of Jacobabad, went missing from her home. The family stated that she was taken without consent and was later presented as having converted to Islam. Heer Rani’s family explained that she was abducted and that the conversion and marriage were carried out under coercion. The Hindu family approached the police and relevant authorities seeking justice and protection for their minor daughter. She was married to Naseebullah Pathan, a resident of Quetta, despite being a minor. Following the incident, her religious identity was changed, and she was renamed Fatima after conversion to Islam. The incident took place in violation of Sindh’s child protection laws, including the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, which prohibited marriage involving minors. The case caused fear and distress within the local Hindu community, which viewed the incident as another instance of Hindu girls being targeted through abduction, forced religious conversion, and marriage. The girl later stated before authorities that she had converted and married voluntarily. Her family rejected these statements, asserting that such declarations are frequently made under pressure, intimidation, or unlawful confinement, especially when the victim was a minor. Despite the existence of legal safeguards, including the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, the incident proceeded without effective state intervention. This was not the first time such incidents had taken place in Pakistan, as the Hinduphobia Tracker had documented numerous similar cases. In Mirpur Khas, Sindh, a minor Hindu girl named Maria, daughter of Shamon Bheel of Village Usman Shah Hadi, Tando Allahyar, was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. She was married to her abductor, Naeem Memon Rajput, aged twenty-nine, and her name was changed to Naila Sheikh. Her family stated that the conversion and marriage were carried out without consent and under coercion. In September 2025, in Umerkot, Sindh, a minor Hindu girl named Shardha Oad was abducted and subjected to forced religious conversion and marriage by a Muslim man named Riaz Ali and his accomplices. The case came to light after her widowed mother, Kamla Oad, approached the Women’s Police Station in Umerkot seeking justice. In September 2025, in Mirpur Khas, Sindh, a minor Hindu girl named Aneeta Thakur was abducted and subjected to forced religious conversion and marriage to a Muslim man named Abdul Rehman Mallah. In June 2025, in Pabban, Hyderabad, a minor Hindu girl named Teji Thakur was abducted, raped, forcibly converted to Islam, and married to Bashir Tangdi. Bashir, along with his accomplice Murad Tangdi and others, threatened the victim, warning her that her family would be harmed if she resisted the marriage. This case highlighted the persecution faced by Hindu minorities in Pakistan, marked by systemic discrimination, violence, and forced conversions. Hindu girls, particularly minors, were abducted, coerced into religious conversion, and married off with little to no legal recourse. Hindu communities continued to face marginalisation and insecurity, living under constant fear due to religious intolerance.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories under it are: 'Conversion of minor & 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 the 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 proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. In this case, the minor Hindu victim, Heer Rani, was abducted specifically on account of her Hindu identity, reflecting a recurring pattern in which minority girls in Pakistan were targeted because of their faith. Following her abduction, she was converted, her identity was altered, and she was married to her abductor, despite being a minor. In this context, the act of abduction and conversion appeared to stem from a systematic method of religious persecution and domination, rather than an isolated criminal act. Moreover, the assault on a Hindu girl by a Muslim man under such circumstances functioned as a tool to subjugate her, undermine her autonomy, and impose humiliation linked directly to her religious identity. It demonstrated a calculated attempt to exert control and inflict long-term psychological harm not only on the individual victim but also on the wider Hindu community. Such incidents were not isolated; rather, they formed part of a persistent and deeply concerning pattern in Pakistan, where Hindu minorities, particularly young Hindu girls, were repeatedly targeted through abductions, forced religious conversions, and marriages to Muslim men. Consequently, this ongoing trend highlighted the systemic discrimination and violence faced by the Hindu community in Pakistan. Since the country’s inception, the Hindu minority has been subjected to sustained harassment, marginalisation, and various forms of abuse. Another critical factor in this case was that the victim was a minor, which negated any possibility of genuine consent or a voluntary change of faith from the outset. Children, owing to their ongoing emotional and cognitive development, were especially vulnerable to manipulation and indoctrination, rendering them easy targets for those seeking to exploit religious or social vulnerabilities. When such acts were committed against minors belonging to a specific faith, in this case, Hindus, through abduction and coercive tactics, they constituted clear instances of hate crimes and serious violations of both human rights and child protection norms. The forced conversion and subsequent marriage of the Hindu victim demonstrated a direct violation of her religious freedoms. Furthermore, although the girl later stated that she had voluntarily married the Muslim man following her abduction, such a claim held no legal or moral validity, as a minor’s consent could not be recognised as informed or voluntary. Any assertion of willingness in such circumstances had to be viewed in the context of coercion, fear, and psychological pressure following abduction. This functioned as a pressure tactic designed to compel submission to the perpetrator, rather than an expression of free choice, reinforcing the exploitative and abusive nature of the act. It was, therefore, a deliberate attempt to strip her of her Hindu faith and impose the Islamic faith upon her. By targeting her religious beliefs, the perpetrators displayed explicit hostility towards Hinduism and the Hindu community, rendering the crime religiously motivated. As the motive behind the offence was rooted in religious animosity towards Hindus, the case was categorised as a hate crime and accordingly included in the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of an incident based on when the crime occurred, rather than when it was subsequently reported in social or mainstream media. In this case, no specific information was available regarding the exact date of the abduction or when the victim’s ordeal began. Therefore, 22 January 2026, the date on which the case was first reported by the media, was used as the indicative date of the incident.