Minor Hindu girl religiously profiled and targeted for attempted sexual exploitation by Muslim man; accused similarly targeted multiple Hindu minors

Case ID : d327819 | Location : Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 16 February, 2022

Case ID : d327819

Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

16 February, 2022

Minor Hindu girl religiously profiled and targeted for attempted sexual exploitation by Muslim man; accused similarly targeted multiple Hindu minors

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Pattern of targeting Hindu minors

Case Summary

In the Khajuraho area of Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, a minor Hindu girl was lured and blackmailed by a Muslim man named Mohammad Shakeel. The Hindu activists revealed that the accused was deliberately targeting minor Hindu girls and luring them to hotels. According to reports, the Hindu activists, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Bajrang Dal, had received information that the accused, Mohammad Shakeel, had been luring minor Hindu girls to the hotel. When Hindu activists reached room number 205 at Apna Cafe/Apna Restaurant Hotel and knocked on the door, the accused did not open. Subsequently, the door was forced open, and the accused was found inside. During the search of the room, a minor Hindu girl was discovered held captive/hidden inside a cupboard, who was pleading for help. Upon being taken out of the cupboard, she cried and asked to be saved. Subsequently, the Hindu activists apprehended Shakeel and paraded him through the streets before being handed over to the police. It was revealed that the accused had been blackmailing her for over four years. Furthermore, videos were recovered from the accused’s mobile phone, which showed several girls crying and pleading to be let go while he was heard bargaining with them, indicating a pattern of blackmail and exploitation. The Hindu activists stated that he had been bringing minor Hindu girls to the hotel for a considerable period and accused the hotel management of providing rooms without proper documentation. The station in-charge of Khajuraho Police Station, Prashant Sen, confirmed that the accused had been taken into custody and was being questioned. The minor victim was sent to the Women’s Help Desk in Chhatarpur for counselling and for recording her statement. Police began examining the recovered mobile phone and stated that legal action would be taken on the basis of the digital evidence and the victim’s testimony.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary category being - Pattern of targeting Hindu minors. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. This case has been added to the tracker because a minor Hindu girl was lured and blackmailed by the Muslim accused, Mohammad Shakeel. Furthermore, videos recovered from the accused’s mobile phone showed several girls crying and pleading to be released while he was heard bargaining with them. The convergence of these elements, the minor Hindu girl, multiple videos of girls in his phone, and repeated targeting of minor Hindu girls demonstrates religious profiling and communal targeting. Under normal circumstances, this case would have been added to the “Undecided” database of the Hinduphobia Tracker, as there is no explicit evidence of a religious motive behind the crime at the time of reporting. However, the videos found on the accused’s phone, along with reports that he was specifically targeting minor Hindu girls, demonstrate a pattern of religious profiling. The deliberate selection of Hindu minors for exploitation reflects identity-based targeting rather than random criminal conduct. The repeated focus on victims from the same religious background demonstrates profiling and religious hatred towards victim's Hindu identity. Therefore, this case has been added to the hate crime database. It is important to note here that the victim, who was rescued, 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, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Furthermore, any supposed consent given for a relationship or sexual activity is legally invalid under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to lure, target and blackmail a minor Hindu girl, it constitutes a blatant act of religious hate. The circumstances of the case further reinforce that this was not an isolated incident. The minor girl, upon being discovered, pleaded for help from Hindu activists present at the scene. Activists stated that the accused had been targeting minor Hindu girls and bringing them to hotels over a period of time. In addition, the videos reportedly recovered from his phone depicted other girls crying and pleading to be let go, indicating repeated instances of similar conduct. The repeated targeting of victims from the same religious background points towards a pattern of deliberate selection and religious profiling. Often, in such cases, sexual exploitation or religious conversion is the ultimate end goal of these exploitations. These acts of exploitation 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. The target was not the victim as an individual alone, but her Hindu identity. The specific focus on minor Hindu girls in the commission of these acts underscores the religious hostility underlying the offence. When victims are selected from a particular faith community and subjected to coercion, the communal dimension becomes intrinsic to the nature of the crime, transforming it into a religiously motivated offence. Since the accused specifically targeted minor Hindu girls, it represents not merely criminal misconduct but conduct motivated by religious animus. Therefore, this case has been added to the Hate crime database. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim’s ordeal began, although reports state that the accused had been blackmailing her for four years. Therefore, for documentation purposes, an indicative date of 17 February 2022 has been selected as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 17 February 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker acknowledges that multiple Hindu girls were reportedly targeted by the accused. However, since only one victim has been explicitly identified in available media coverage, the victim count has been conservatively recorded as one.