19-year-old Hindu girl lured, forcefully converted, and married by Muslim man
Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
6 August, 2025
Case Summary
A 19-year-old Hindu woman was lured away by a Muslim man named Kunnu, son of Bismillah, a resident of Dundura village, Balrampur, on August 7, 2025. Kunnu enticed her with promises of a better life, then forcefully converted her to Islam and married her. The woman’s father lodged a complaint at the Maharajganj Terai police station, after which Kunnu was apprehended. During questioning, Kunnu openly admitted to taking the woman, converting her religion, and marrying her. He was then remanded to judicial custody.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category in this case is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The first subcategory under this is: Forced conversion before marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. In such cases, typically, two patterns emerge. First, when the relationship is consensual, and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. The second is when the woman gets into a marriage with the man pretending to share her faith. Later, when the truth is revealed, the man starts pressuring the woman to convert her religion and give up her religious identity. In both the situations, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurising the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The second subcategory under this is: Brainwashed and/or groomed. 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. Another primary category in this case is: Predatory proselytisation. The subcategory under this 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. This case stands as a clear example of a hate crime against Hindus, marked by a calculated violation of personal liberty, community stability, and religious identity. Kunnu, after taking the 19-year-old Hindu woman from her family, performed her conversion to Islam and married her. The conversion was not a by-product of personal association but a deliberate act aimed at erasing her Hindu identity, executed without genuine consent. This demonstrates a targeted strategy directed against an individual specifically because of her faith. By presenting her with promises of a luxurious and prosperous life, Kunnu engaged in proselytisation through inducement. The act of luring a Hindu girl under the pretext of inducements, such as promises of a better life, marriage, education, or financial stability, and then coercing her to convert to Islam is inherently problematic because it is not a matter of personal choice or genuine consent. It is a manipulative tactic designed to exploit vulnerability, erode individual autonomy, and ultimately strip the victim of her faith and cultural identity. Vulnerable girls, often from economically weaker backgrounds, broken families, or socially isolated situations, are particularly susceptible to such traps. Limited awareness, emotional dependency, and lack of community support make them easy targets for those who deliberately craft narratives of love, opportunity, and rescue, only to later impose religious conversion. Such acts are not isolated or random; they reflect a deeper, organised conspiracy rooted in religious animosity. In a context where Hindus are a targeted minority or a community viewed with hostility, these tactics become a form of soft persecution, cloaked in the language of love or opportunity, but with the underlying aim of eradicating the Hindu identity. Once trust is gained through inducements, the victim is often subjected to psychological pressure, threats, or outright violence to ensure conversion, making it an act of both deception and coercion. This practice aligns with a larger ideological goal, which is to expand religious dominance by systematically reducing the Hindu population, either through forced assimilation or by making non-adherence to Islam socially and physically unsafe. It is a direct assault not only on the individual’s freedom of religion but also on the community’s demographic and cultural survival. Notably, in this instance, since the girl was an adult, it could be argued that this case does not necessarily constitute a hate crime, as she has the agency to make her own decisions. However, the details provided specify that the perpetrator, in his confession to the police, acknowledged that he lured the woman, converted her, and married her. This substantiates both the sequence of events and the intentional nature of his conduct. The progression of actions, from false promises to religious conversion and marriage, reflects planning rather than impulsiveness. When such acts involve coercive or deceptive religious change, they surpass personal wrongdoing and strike at the cultural and spiritual fabric of the Hindu community. This case exposes the underlying animosity towards the Hindu faith that fuels such targeted crimes, warranting inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
