Case Summary

In Pakistan’s Sindh province, four Hindus, three girls, one of whom was a minor, and one minor boy were abducted and forcibly converted to Islam by their Muslim teacher named Farhan Khaskheli. Another Muslim youth named Zulfikar Khaskheli was also involved in this crime. As per reports, the victims were identified as 22-year-old Jiya Bai, 20-year-old Diya Bai, 16-year-old Disha alias Dasina Bai, and 13-year-old Ganesh alias Harjeet Kumar. The three girls were sisters, and Harjeet was their cousin. The incident took place in Shahdadpur, a town in Sindh’s Sanghar district, where the four were abducted from their homes under coercion and forced to convert to Islam. Amidst these events, a video of the victims, including the minors, appeared on social media in which they said that they had left their homes of their own accord and willingly converted to Islam. However, local sources stated that the abductions were followed by forced conversions, and social media videos also showed the victims’ parents making similar statements. The mother of the victims said that the local computer teacher, Farhan Khaskheli, seduced and abducted her children. She said, “I had three daughters, and Farhan took them all.” The victim's mother also made a specific plea for the return of her young son, arguing he is too immature to comprehend religious conversion, and appealed to PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for intervention. These videos sparked outrage among human rights activists and the Hindu community, raising concerns about the safety of Hindu minorities in Pakistan. Efforts to seek justice faced resistance, as the local authorities were very slow to respond, leaving the families to cope with their grief and uncertainty regarding the fate of their children. However, the case eventually reached the Shahdadpur court. Rajesh Kumar, head of the Hindu Panchayat, called the event both a family tragedy and a community disaster, and questioned whether the minors had the capacity to voluntarily convert to Islam, considering their age. The Shahdadpur court ordered that the two Hindu minors, 16-year-old Dashina Bai alias Disha and 13-year-old Harjeet Kumar alias Ganesh, be returned to their parents under judicial conditions. However, the court stated that the Hindu families must deposit PKR 1 crore (10 million rupees) each as a bond to guarantee that they will not try to “reconvert” the children to Hinduism. This condition effectively criminalised any return of the Hindu minor victims to their ancestral faith, Hinduism. Meanwhile, in the case of the two adults, Jiya Bai (22) and Diya Bai (20), were granted the freedom to choose and practise whichever religion they wished. The court ruled that they could not be forced to return to their families, citing “free will.” The court also acquitted the two Muslim perpetrators of kidnapping charges based on the statements of the Hindu victims. The parents and lawyer of the victim stated that the children were coerced into giving a statement in favour of the Muslim perpetrators. This case is a stark reminder of the persecution faced by the Hindu minorities in Pakistan, marked by systemic discrimination, violence, and forced conversions. Hindu women, particularly young girls, are often abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to Muslim men with little to no legal recourse. Temples are frequently vandalised or destroyed, and Hindu communities are subjected to social and economic marginalisation. Blasphemy laws are disproportionately used against Hindus, leading to false accusations and severe punishments. Many Hindu families are forced to flee their homes due to religious intolerance, living in constant fear of attacks. This sustained persecution highlights the dire conditions for Hindus in Pakistan, where their religious identity makes them targets of oppression.

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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- 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. The other subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Within this, the tertiary category is- 'Family claims grooming' and 'conversion of a 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. This case, in Sindh province, Pakistan, in which four Hindus, three sisters and their cousin, were abducted and forcibly converted to Islam, is a clear example of a hate crime targeting the Hindu minority. This incident is not an isolated event but part of a disturbing pattern of religiously motivated violence against Hindus in Pakistan. The fact that the Muslim perpetrators specifically targeted individuals from the Hindu community and subjected them to abduction and forced conversion highlights the religious motivations behind the crime. Such acts are intended not only to intimidate the victims and their families but also to send a message of fear and subjugation to the wider Hindu community. Central to the gravity of this case is the use of abduction, force, and coercion in the conversion process. The four victims, Jiya (22), Diya (20), Disha alias Dasina Bai (16), and Ganesh alias Harjeet (13) were abducted from their homes in Shahdadpur, Sanghar district, under duress. The abduction itself is a criminal act, but the subsequent forced conversion compounds the violation of their religious rights. Coercion, whether through threats, psychological pressure, or physical force, deprives Hindu individuals of their freedom to practise their faith. The fact that Hindus in Pakistan are a vulnerable religious minority further underscores the religious animosity driving such crimes. Additionally, the involvement of minor victims in this case adds another layer of severity and concern. The two minor victims, Disha (16) and Harjeet (13), appeared on social media and said that they converted to Islam out of their own will, but since they are minors, their 'consent' is not valid. This targeted conversion of minor Hindus makes the religious motivations behind the crime crystal clear. The victims being minors indicates a lack of consent and a genuine change of conscience. It is a well-established fact that children are more susceptible to manipulation and coercion since they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully mature, making them more vulnerable. This case demonstrates a calculated strategy of targeting those who are less able to resist or understand the long-term implications of conversion, making it a significant case of religious-motivated hate crime. Furthermore, the court’s actions in this case clearly demonstrate a bias in favour of the Muslim perpetrators while persecuting the Hindu victims. Despite the Hindu families stating that their children were abducted and forcibly converted, the court not only acquitted the accused of kidnapping charges but also imposed a punitive condition on the Hindu parents, requiring them to deposit a massive bond of PKR 1 crore each to regain custody of their own minor children. This bond was specifically to guarantee that the families would not attempt to “reconvert” their children to Hinduism, effectively criminalising any effort to restore the children’s original faith and treating Hindu religious identity as a threat. Moreover, the court accepted the statements of the minors, that was made under pressure, as evidence of voluntary conversion, disregarding the power dynamics and the minors’ inability to make such life-altering decisions independently. By discharging the accused and placing numerous restrictions on the Hindu families, the court sided with the Muslim perpetrators, reinforcing a system that enables the persecution and marginalisation of Hindus in Pakistan. While the two adult victims, Jiya and Diya, appeared in a social media video saying that they had converted out of their own free will, there is substantial evidence to suggest otherwise. Local sources and the victims’ families have consistently maintained that all four were coerced into leaving their homes and forcibly converted to Islam. The existence of videos showing the parents pleading for their children’s return and detailing the coercion to convert to Islam further supports the assertion that these conversions were not voluntary. This pattern of extracting public declarations of “willful conversion” from Hindu victims is a well-known tactic used to lend legitimacy to the forced conversions of Hindus in Pakistan. This case is emblematic of the broader plight of Hindus in Pakistan, who continue to face systemic discrimination, violence, and social exclusion. Forced conversions, particularly of Hindus, have become alarmingly frequent in Pakistan, with local authorities often slow to respond or complicit in the abuses. The lack of effective legal protection and the failure to hold perpetrators accountable perpetuate a climate of impunity, leaving Hindu families in constant fear for their safety. As this case involves the forced abduction and conversion of Hindu women and children in Pakistan, it is being added to the hate crime database in the Hinduphobia Tracker.