Minor Hindu girl abducted, pressured to convert to Islam and her family assaulted by Muslims in Lucknow
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India 
3 February, 2026
Case Summary
In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Hindu girl was forcibly abducted and pressured for religious conversion and marriage by a Muslim man named Aman Khan. The victim's family was also subjected to brutal physical assault and death threats by the accused and his Muslim sisters. According to media reports, the victim's mother, a resident of Hariom Nagar, stated in her complaint that her 16-year-old Hindu daughter was near her school around 10 a.m. on Monday (9 February 2026). Aman Khan, a neighbour, forcibly abducted her and fled. The victim's family stated that earlier on 4 February 2026, Aman Khan, along with his sisters Amreen and Sahiba, arrived at their home, where the family was assaulted in front of the neighbourhood over the forced marriage of their daughter. They were also threatened with death. The victim's mother said that Aman constantly pressured her daughter to marry him. When she refused, they threatened to force her to convert to Islam. They also threatened to make her marry him. In addition, the victim's family was assaulted when they opposed the marraige proposal. Following this, the victim's family lodged a police complaint regarding this matter, and the Madiyanv police station in-charge Shivanand Mishra said that a case was registered based on the complaint and several teams were formed to search for the Hindu victim.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category for this case is- Predatory Preselytisation. The subcategory 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 sub-category this case falls under is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category here is- 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. Another primary category selected is- Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory selected is- Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. This case qualifies as a hate crime because the actions targeted a minor Hindu girl and her family due to her Hindu religious identity. The aim was to alter that identity through marriage linked to religious conversion. Firstly, it is important to highlight that the victim was a minor. This meant that any element of consent or genuine change of conscience was absent from the outset. Minors, due to their young age, are most vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They cannot grasp the long-term implications of converting to another religion or getting married. The Muslim perpetrator deliberately exploited this vulnerability by subjecting the minor girl to repeated coercion, intending to convert her religion to Islam and then marry her. This showcased the predatory nature of the entire act and made the religiously motivated aspect of the crime clear. The act of forcibly pressuring the Hindu girl to convert to Islam and marry him demonstrated deep-seated religious animosity rooted in supremacist beliefs that deem Hinduism inferior. It represented a deliberate, forcible change of faith that violated the victim's religious autonomy, disrespected her Hindu faith identity, and sought to erase her cultural heritage. This targeted attack on her religious beliefs amounted to a clear instance of religiously motivated hate crime. The attempted forced marriage at such a young age enabled the accused to establish complete control over her after conversion, underscoring the predatory nature of the act driven by religious dominance. Following the pressure to convert, the victim was abducted by the accused. This abduction intensified the conversion angle, escalating it into a religiously motivated hate crime through physical enforcement of the religious change. By abducting the minor Hindu girl, separating her from her parents, and forcing her to convert to Islam and marry him, the perpetrator revealed deep-seated religious animosity towards her Hindu identity. This made the religiously motivated nature of the crime even clearer, combining coercion with isolation to suppress her faith. When the victim's parents refused this marriage, the Muslim perpetrator and his sisters launched a violent assault on them. The parents were attacked solely for opposing the perpetrators and protecting their minor daughter. Attacking Hindus for safeguarding other Hindus (especially minors) from coerced conversion and marriage revealed the perpetrators' deep-seated religious animosity towards both the victim and her parents. They targeted the parents for trying to save their daughter from coercion, conversion, and marriage. This assault on Hindus defending against religiously motivated coercion constituted a clear case of hate crime, with the parents targeted for their Hindu identity. Such forced proselytisation attempts are motivated by deep-seated religious animosity towards the victim's faith as Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to their faith is subject to dehumanisation unless they convert. This makes it a religiously motivated hate crime. Hence, this case has been added to the Hate Crime Database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the dates of incidents based on when the victim's ordeal begins rather than when it is reported by the media. In this case, the media reports did not state the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. Therefore, the date of the first attack at the victim's home over the forced conversion and marriage, 4 February 2026, has been selected as the indicative incident date. This is recorded for documentation purposes only. The media report stated that the victim's family was attacked. However, the total number of family members was not specified; it only mentioned the victim's mother. Therefore, the total victim count has been conservatively estimated at 2, referring to the victim and her mother. This is recorded for documentation purposes only.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 2
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
