Minor Hindu girl targeted for religious conversion, her ova sold by Muslim women in Prayagraj; accused had similarly targeted 30 Hindu girls
Prayagraj (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India 
5 February, 2026
Case Summary
In Prayagraj, a 15-year-old Hindu girl named Komal was targeted for forced religious conversion, and her ova (egg cells) were sold by two Muslim women, Joya alias Zoya and her daughter. The accused lured and induced the victim with the promise of an iPhone and told her, “After a small operation, you will get a new life.” Joya also brainwashed and encouraged the Hindu victim to convert to Islam. The accused had similarly targeted 25–30 Hindu minor girls in a similar manner for conversion and exploitation. According to media reports, this came to light when Shalini (name changed), a widow living with her three children, stated that her eldest daughter, Komal (15) and her youngest son, Anuj (5), were under her care. Shalini stated that Komal had been in contact with a Muslim woman named Joya. Komal never shared her whereabouts with Shalini. On 15 January 2026, Komal suddenly went missing. Attempts to contact her failed, and her mobile phone was switched off. The family filed a missing persons complaint. On 21 January 2026, they discovered that she had been admitted to an in vitro fertilisation centre (IVF) in Civil Lines. Shalini learned that her daughter had undergone surgery on instructions of the Muslim woman Joya and her ova cells had been extracted for another woman’s child. Even Joya's daughter supported her mother in this crime. Shalini further stated that Komal told her she had been promised an Apple iPhone and Rs 15,000 for the operation. Komal further revealed that Joya supervised everything and was supposed to provide the iPhone. She also said that other Hindu girls were in contact with Joya. Before being admitted to the in vitro fertilisation centre, the Hindu minor girl was given injections that stopped her periods (menstruation). She was then called daily to the IVF centre, where injections were administered. On 16 January 2026, after being admitted, the operation was performed. When police questioned Komal, she stated that Joya brainwashed her by stating the supposed ''freedoms of Islam'' and promised, “Once you earn good money, your marriage will be arranged.” She was also repeatedly pressured by Joya to convert to Islam. Chairperson Akhilesh Mishra summoned the victim girl and her mother, recorded their statements, and placed Komal in a one-stop shelter home at Shahganj police station. On the chairperson’s orders, the Special Juvenile Police Unit recorded her statement on camera. Her medical examination was also scheduled. Police investigations revealed that the accused had targeted 20–25 underage Hindu minor girls in a similar manner, with their ova extracted in this way.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories under it are: Family claims grooming, Pattern of targeting Hindus and 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- Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement. Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases, therefore, are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity forms the very heart of the crime itself. 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. Another primary category selected is -Attack not resulting in death. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and the tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime under this category. This incident reflected a hate crime against Hindus because a Hindu minor was deliberately exploited and targeted for conversion to Islam by a Muslim woman named Joya, alias Zoya, and her daughter. The first trigger was the exploitation of the victim’s Hindu identity. She was approached and brainwashed to convert to Islam by the accused, who lured her with promises of money and material rewards, and then coerced her into selling her ova cells. This showed that the targeting was not random but directed at a Hindu minor with the intent of religious conversion. Secondly, the victim was brainwashed to separate her from her parents. She was made to spend long hours away from home, kept evasive about her activities, and eventually disappeared. This deliberate isolation formed part of a systematic grooming process designed to weaken her family ties and make her more vulnerable to coercion. The act of separating a minor from her parents and then targeting her for conversion and exploitation amounted to harassment for proselytisation, making it a hate crime. Thirdly, the exploitation of a minor carried added gravity because minors’ consent is no consent, with the element of genuine change of conscience missing ab initio. Due to their young age and lack of maturity, minors are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion, lacking the ability to fully understand the implications of religious conversion. The Muslim perpetrators purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability. Any supposed consent for marriage, elopement, or conversion was invalid even under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. By law and principle, a child cannot give valid consent to medical procedures or religious conversion. This reflected a calculated choice to prey on her immaturity and inability to discern right from wrong. Such predatory actions targeting a Hindu minor amount to a religiously motivated crime. Fourthly, the grooming was not only about exploitation but also about religious conversion. The victim was induced and brainwashed with talk about the supposed “freedoms of Islam” and promised marriage and a better life if she accepted Islamic practices. This showed that the exploitation was ideologically and religiously charged, aiming to distance her from her Hindu identity and reshape her beliefs. In this case, the inducements of supposed freedoms and marriage were not just out of goodwill or charity, and this manipulation and grooming were also done with the intent to strip her of her Hindu faith, showcasing the religiously driven intent behind the crime. All this act, starting with luring the victim, exploiting her body for extracting ova, and forcing her to convert to Islam through inducements and brainwashing techniques, showcased that she was targeted, exploited, and attacked specifically for her Hindu identity. The deliberate selection of a Hindu minor girl, approached with references to the supposed "freedoms of Islam," promises of marriage within that faith, and material lures tied to abandoning her Hindu roots, demonstrated clear religious animus. No evidence existed of targeting girls from other communities in the same manner; instead, the pattern fixed exclusively on Hindu minors, marking their faith as the predicate for predation. Attacking and subjecting a Hindu individual to such layered exploitation and conversion showcased the hate-driven nature of the act, making it a religiously motivated crime. Furthermore, another egregious aspect of this case was that the accused targeted not just one victim but 25–30 Hindu minor girls in the same manner. This demonstrated that it was not an isolated incident but a systematic pattern of targeting Hindu girls, exploiting them, and forcing them to convert, all driven by animosity towards their faith identity. It revealed the dehumanisation with which the Muslim perpetrators viewed Hindu girls, seeing them not as human beings but as objects to convert and exploit. Such acts transcended mere criminality; they were ideologically charged, exposing religious prejudice and a calculated intent to alter the religious identity of Hindu minors without their volition. The grooming process, building false trust only to exploit, remained an insidious method that preyed on the children’s naivety and dependence, rendering it a religiously motivated hate crime. Given that this case met several parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it was added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began, rather than when it is reported by the media. However, in this case, none of the media sources has specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, the date when the news was reported in the media, 5 February 2026, is selected as the indicative incident date. This is recorded for documentation purposes only. In this case, since the accused targeted Komal and 25–30 other Hindu girls, the total victim count was recorded as 31, referring to both Komal and the other 30 victims.
Victim Details
Total Victim
31
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 31
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 31
Age Group
- Minor 31
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
female
Sources 
