Hindu girl abducted by Muslim man for forced Nikah; accused’s mother tries to lure victim
Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
24 July, 2025
Case Summary
In the Dullahpur area of Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu girl was abducted for Nikah (Islamic marriage) by a Muslim man named Seraj Ahmed. The Muslim man initially made contact with the girl on the pretext of getting her assistance in obtaining an ABHA Card, during which he obtained her phone number and started talking to her. When the Hindu girl stopped responding to his calls, Seraj, along with six of his friends, forcibly entered her home, physically dragged her out, and attempted to abduct her using a car. He intended to perform Nikah with her. This immediately drew the attention of local residents, who informed the police. The police responded swiftly and arrested Seraj Ahmed on the spot, although his accomplices managed to escape and were absconding. A formal complaint was filed by the girl’s mother, based on which a case was registered against the accused under sections relating to kidnapping, compelling marriage, outraging the modesty of a woman, criminal intimidation, insult, and criminal conspiracy. The girl was sent for a medical examination. The mother of the accused also appeared at the police station and attempted to lure the victim with the promise of transferring all her property if she agreed to marry Seraj, although the police took no action against her. Local BJP leader and former district panchayat member Anil Kumar Pandey condemned the incident and pointed to the presence of an organised network operating in the area that systematically targets Hindu girls for conversion and forced marriages.
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, with the tertiary category being - Forced to do Nikah. 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. 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. Other sub-category relevant here 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Muslim man attempted to abduct a Hindu girl for Nikah (Islamic marriage), thereby enforcing forced conversion upon her, as in Islam, conversion is seen as a prerequisite for Nikah/marriage. When the victim refused his advances, the accused attempted to forcibly kidnap her to compel religious conversion and Nikah. The conversion was not a by-product of personal association but a deliberate act aimed at erasing her Hindu identity in order to make her eligible for Nikah. This demonstrates a targeted strategy directed against an individual specifically because of animosity towards her religious identity. The accused's actions demonstrated not only exploitation but also deep-seated disrespect for the victims' faith and religious autonomy. Following the failed abduction, the mother of the accused also attempted to lure the victim with promises of money and property in order to induce conversion and pressurise her to perform Nikah with the accused. This amounted to offering inducements for religious conversion, a tactic designed to exploit economic vulnerability rather than provide genuine support to the victim. Economic incentives in such cases function as instruments of predatory proselytisation, where Hindu girls from economically weaker backgrounds, broken families, or socially isolated backgrounds are targeted. Often in such cases, inducements are used as tools for stripping the victim of their Hindu identity. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert. Therefore, in many cases, the perpetrators don’t even shy away from resorting to violence in order to induce conversion. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime.
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 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
