Minor Hindu girl forced to wear burqa, threatened and harassed for religious conversion by Muslim classmates

Case ID : d3272be | Location : Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 22 January, 2026

Case ID : d3272be

Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

22 January, 2026

Minor Hindu girl forced to wear burqa, threatened and harassed for religious conversion by Muslim classmates

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In the Bilari area of Moradabad district, Uttar Pradesh, a 16-year-old Hindu girl was compelled to wear a burqa and pressured for religious conversion by her Muslim classmates. When she refused to convert, she was subjected to threats and mental harassment. According to reports, the minor victim, studying in Class 12, was subjected to sustained pressure by five Muslim classmates during her tuition classes in the Sahu Kunj Colony, Bilari. The victim attended tuition classes alongside the accused Muslim girls, identified as Alina, Malishka, Saviya, Riyasha and Jahaura, all aged between 15 and 17. During this period, the victim was repeatedly compelled to wear a burqa and was persistently pressed to convert to Islam. When she resisted, she faced mental harassment and intimidation, creating a coercive environment around. The matter came to light after CCTV footage showing the girl being made to wear a burqa inside the tuition premises circulated widely. Following the incident, the victim’s brother, Devesh Chaudhary, a resident of Abdullah Mohalla South in Bilari, filed a formal complaint at Bilari Police Station. Acting on the complaint, the police registered an FIR against the five students under Sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, and initiated an investigation. The police stated that evidence was being collected, the accused were questioned, and further action would be taken based on the findings.

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. 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. The other sub-category selected here 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 was added to the tracker because a 16-year-old Hindu girl was compelled to wear a burqa and pressured for religious conversion by her Muslim classmates. Firstly, it is important to note here that the victim was a minor, which means the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Minors, due to their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion, and the accused classmates purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of religious hate. This deliberate targeting of a minor rendered the conduct inherently coercive and abusive. Secondly, the victim was compelled to wear a burqa by the accused classmates. Forcing her to wear the burqa was not just a random act; it was a deliberate and malicious attempt at religious conversion. By making her wear the burqa, they were trying to impose Islamic practices on her and push her towards accepting an Islamic lifestyle. This imposition was done to normalise Islamic customs for her, making future conversion easier and smoother. Thirdly, compelling a minor 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 is not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Fourth, when the victim resisted these pressures, she was subjected to mental harassment and intimidation. Such conduct served as a tool of coercion, designed to wear down her resistance through fear and psychological distress. The sustained nature of the harassment underscored that the objective was not casual persuasion but forced compliance. These exploitations were not random acts of crime; rather, they functioned as religiously motivated tools aimed at humiliating and dominating a Hindu girl because of her faith Taken together, the repeated pressure to convert, the forced imposition of religious practices, and the harassment following refusal established a clear pattern of coercive conduct directed at the victim because of her Hindu faith. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert. Such acts were not merely personal crimes; they were rooted in a desire to dominate and erase the religious identity of the victim. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim was pressured for conversion. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media, 23 January 2026.