Minor Hindu girl abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married by Muslim men in Pakistan

Case ID : e2752fd | Location : Umerkot District, Sindh, Pakistan | Date of Incident : Mon, 1 September, 2025

Case ID : e2752fd

Umerkot District, Sindh, Pakistan

1 September, 2025

Minor Hindu girl abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married by Muslim men in Pakistan

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Family claims grooming

Case Summary

In Umerkot, Sindh, a minor Hindu girl named Shardha Oad was abducted and subjected to forced religious conversion and marriage by a Muslim man named Riaz Ali and his accomplices. The case came to light after the victim’s widowed mother, Kamla Oad, lodged a complaint at the Women Police Station in Umerkot. The incident was shared on social media by Faqir Shiva Kachhi, a Hindu activist and Chairman of the 'Pakistan Darawar Ittehad', a minority rights organisation working to protect oppressed and vulnerable communities. According to the FIR, Riaz Ali married Shardha after her abduction. The marriage was solemnised by Mullah Bashir Ahmed Soomro, with Ali Hassan Dilwani and Ali Bux Dilwani serving as witnesses. Another Muslim man named Sikandar Kharat was also named in the FIR for his role in the abduction, along with other individuals involved. The FIR was filed through the intervention of Faqir Shiva Kachhi. The case was registered under charges of abduction and under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, acknowledging that the victim was a minor and the marriage was conducted unlawfully. The intervention of the minority rights activist ensured that the complaint was formally recorded, providing the victim’s family with legal recognition of their ordeal. Following this, the local police authorities began an investigation into this case. This case highlights 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.

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. Another subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Within this, the tertiary categories selected are- Conversion of Minor and Family claims grooming. 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 has been added under the hate crime database since the abduction, forced conversion of a minor Hindu girl, followed by her marriage to a Muslim man in Pakistan, starkly illustrates the exploitation of vulnerable Hindu minorities through coercion and force. Such incidents are not isolated cases; rather, they are part of a persistent and troubling pattern in Pakistan, where Hindu minorities, particularly young Hindu girls, are frequently targeted for kidnappings, forced religious conversions, and marriages to Muslim men. This ongoing trend showcases the systemic discrimination and violence faced by the Hindu community in Pakistan. The Hindu minority has been subjected to various forms of harassment, marginalisation, and abuse since the country’s inception. Another point to highlight is that the victim in this case is a minor. Hence, it negates any genuine element of consent or voluntary change of faith from the outset. Children, due to their ongoing emotional and cognitive development, are especially susceptible to manipulation and indoctrination, making them easy targets for those seeking to exploit religious or social vulnerabilities. When such acts are perpetrated against minors of a specific faith, in this case, Hindus, using abduction and coercion tactics, then they are clear instances of hate crimes and clear violations of both human rights and child protection norms. The act of forced conversion and subsequent marriage of the Hindu victim demonstrated the violation of her religious rights. It was a deliberate attempt to strip her of her Hindu faith and impose Islamic faith upon her. By targeting her religious beliefs, the perpetrators demonstrated clear animosity towards Hinduism and the Hindu community, making it a religiously motivated crime. As the motive behind the crime is rooted in religious animosity towards Hindus, it has been categorised as a hate crime and accordingly included in the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of an incident based on when the crime occurs, rather than when it is later reported in social or mainstream media. In this case, no specific date is available regarding when the victim was abducted or when her ordeal began. Therefore, the date when the matter was first highlighted on social media by Hindu activist Shiva Kachhi—2nd September 2025—is being used as the indicative date of the incident.