Minor Dalit Hindu girl lured away under pretext of marriage and forcibly converted to Islam by Muslim youth

Case ID : e2752f8 | Location : Mirganj, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 26 August, 2025

Case ID : e2752f8

Mirganj, Uttar Pradesh, India

26 August, 2025

Minor Dalit Hindu girl lured away under pretext of marriage and forcibly converted to Islam by Muslim youth

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Conversion of minor

Family claims grooming

Forced conversion before marriage

Case Summary

In Mirganj, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Dalit Hindu girl was lured into a relationship by a Muslim man named Shamsher alias Aryan. He lured the victim away from her home on the pretext of marriage and forcibly converted her to Islam. According to media reports, the victim’s family submitted a written complaint to the police stating that in 2024, the Muslim accused, originally from Bihar, had stayed at their house on rent and worked as a quilt maker. He returned to his village after the winter season ended. During his stay, he trapped their minor daughter in a romantic relationship and promised to marry her. He returned to the village on 27th August 2025 and eloped with her at night. When the girl went missing, a search was conducted, but she was not found. The next day, an FIR was registered against the accused. Through mobile surveillance, information indicated that the girl was in Chunar. The police acted on this lead and found her at Chunar railway station, while the accused initially absconded but was later arrested. He had forcibly converted the girl to Islam. After medical examination and the recording of her statement in court, the girl was handed over to her family. Police confirmed that a case had been registered against the accused under charges of kidnapping, forced religious conversion, and offences under the SC/ST Act.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or Groomed. The tertiary categories selected are- Conversion of Minor and Family claims grooming. 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. The other subcategory selected 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 pressurizing 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. In this case, it is first important to note that the Hindu victim is a minor. This 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. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Since this case exemplifies the use of pressure and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of religious hate, making it a religiously motivated crime. This case was not a random act of exploitation; the Hindu victim was specifically chosen and targeted for her religious identity. The accused lured the victim into a relationship under the false promise of marriage with the clear and deliberate intent of converting her to Islam. The act was not merely a personal crime; it was an assault on her religious identity, carried out with the aim of stripping her of her Hindu faith. The Hindu victim was taken away from the safety of her home and forcibly converted. This not only violated her personal autonomy, but also her right to practise her own faith. Forced conversion removes any element of individual choice and is grounded in coercion, deceit, and manipulation. Such actions reflect religious animosity because the sole purpose of targeting her was her Hindu identity. The sequence of events, from the false romantic engagement to the act of conversion, makes it clear that the crime was motivated by hostility towards the victim’s religion. This transforms it from an ordinary crime into a hate crime, one rooted in malice towards Hindus. Cases like this highlight a troubling pattern of predatory proselytisation. Under the guise of relationships and marriage, Hindu girls are deceived, isolated, and pressured into conversions. These conversions are not based on an individual’s free will or spiritual conviction, but on external coercion and manipulation. Post-conversion, the victim’s original religious and cultural identity is erased, reinforcing the fact that such crimes are driven by prejudice and animosity. They point to an underlying doctrinal hostility towards Hindus, wherein religious coercion is weaponised against vulnerable individuals, often minors, as a means of religious domination. This case, therefore, meets the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime and is accordingly being added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: Media reports confirmed that the accused had first arrived at the victim’s home last year, staying as a tenant. However, the reports did not specify the exact date when he first lured the minor girl into a relationship. What is confirmed is that on 27th August 2025, the accused returned to the village, lured her away from her home, and took her towards Bihar. During this period, he forcibly converted her to Islam. Therefore, 27th August 2025 is used as an indicative date of the incident. Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of when the victim's ordeal begins rather than when it is reported in the media.