Minor Hindu girl groomed, lured away, and forcibly converted to Islam by Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : e27540f | Location : Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 13 August, 2025

Case ID : e27540f

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

13 August, 2025

Minor Hindu girl groomed, lured away, and forcibly converted to Islam by Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Family claims grooming

Conversion of minor

Case Summary

In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a 17‑year‑old Hindu girl was lured into a relationship and then taken away by a Muslim man named Mohammad Rayees. The victim was also forcibly converted to Islam. The accused threatened the victim’s father with violence. According to media reports, the victim’s father, Shivkumar, stated that his daughter had been kidnapped from Ludhiana Bazar, Lucknow, by Mohammad Rayees, a resident of Malihabad. Even after 20 days of the incident, there was no trace of the girl. Shivkumar further said that Rayees had trapped his daughter in a romantic relationship with the intent of religious conversion to Islam. Shivkumar worked as a tailor in Ludhiana Bazar. Shivkumar explained that on 7th July 2025, he came to Lucknow with his wife and daughter so that after passing high school, his daughter could continue her studies up to the intermediate level there. She was admitted to a private school and began attending regularly. On the morning of 14th August 2025, the daughter left home for school. That day, her father gave her Rs. 10,000 to deposit her school fees. Her school was to close at around 1:30 pm, but when she did not return home by noon, Shivkumar went to the school. The school administration stated that the daughter had not attended that day. Questioning her friends also provided no information. Shivkumar then lodged a missing report at Sarabanagar Police Station, Ludhiana Bazar, Lucknow. He said that the inspector at the police station told him to first search at bus and railway stations, after which further action would be taken. The search continued until midnight on 14th August 2025, but no clue was found. After this, Shivkumar visited his relatives and returned to Lucknow, but he found no information about his daughter. He also questioned her friends, Shivani and Samiksha, but they too gave no details. Shivkumar later checked his daughter’s social media and Instagram chats from his wife’s phone and found communication between her and Mohammad Rayees. During her high school examination, Rayees was identified as the person accompanying her. From the chats, Shivkumar understood that the accused was grooming his daughter with the intent of religious conversion. The father then went to Malihabad Police Station and filed a complaint against Rayees, demanding that a case be registered and strict action taken. Although an application was accepted, no serious steps were taken. On 17th August 2025, Shivkumar went to Ludhiana Bazar, where an FIR was registered on 30th August 2025. He then submitted a copy to Malihabad Police Station, but despite this, the police did not take the matter seriously and delayed the investigation. Reports also stated that the Muslim accused had threatened Shivkumar and his entire family with death if they complained to the police and had brandished illegal weapons while issuing the threat. Following this, Shivkumar approached the National General Secretary of the Women’s Cell of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Neelam Saroj, who took the matter seriously. She gave Malihabad police three days’ time to act, demanded arrangements for the safety of Shivkumar’s life and property, and instructed that a case be registered against the Muslim accused who had issued threats with illegal weapons. She warned that otherwise, her workers would surround the ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) Malihabad office. Even after the warning, no action was taken by the local police for the safety of the victim’s family. As a result, Neelam Saroj, along with her women workers, reached the ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) office on 10th September 2025. After hearing the matter, the ACP ordered the registration of a case against the Muslim accused who had issued threats and assured that an arrest would be made soon. Neelam Saroj stated that if the police failed to act after an impartial investigation, a large-scale agitation would be organised, and the full responsibility would lie with the Malihabad police. In this regard, Additional Police Station In-charge Inspector Surendra Mishra said that the matter was under investigation and further action would follow.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added 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. This case is a clear instance of a hate crime committed against a Hindu minor girl. It is important to highlight that the victim was only 17 years old when she was targeted. This means that 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 Hindu victim. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of religious hate, making it a religiously motivated crime. The Muslim accused lured the girl into a relationship as a method of grooming her for conversion to Islam. This mode of operation, where Hindu girls are deceived into fraudulent relationships, has the objective of stripping them of their faith and imposing a new identity upon them. In this case, the girl’s status as a minor made her even more susceptible to manipulation, undermining her autonomy. Forcing the Hindu girl to renounce her religion and adopt Islam violated her right to religious freedom and reflected deep-seated hostility towards Hindus. This imposition was not just personal coercion but an expression of communal animosity against the Hindu community. The crime extended beyond the Hindu girl herself. Her father was directly intimidated by the accused, who brandished illegal weapons and threatened violence if he pursued legal remedies. This intimidation aimed to silence the victim’s family and prevent resistance to the forced conversion. It highlighted that the crime was not limited to the abduction and conversion but extended to creating an atmosphere of fear, ensuring the victim’s compliance through family coercion. The conduct of the police also exposed institutional weakness and bias. Despite complaints, the police initially refused to take the matter seriously and delayed the investigation. Even when a case was registered later, the action taken remained inadequate. The act of dismissing or delaying justice for the Hindu victims of forced conversion showcased systemic negligence and added to the victimisation of the Hindu community. Such cases of forced proselytisation are rooted in religious animosity and doctrinal hostility towards Hindus. When a Hindu girl is abducted, sexually groomed, and coerced into renouncing her religion, it illustrates the operation of an ideology that is intolerant towards non-adherents of their faith. This incident is an expression of a larger doctrinal enmity directed against Hindus as a community. Given that this case meets multiple parameters of a religiously motivated crime, it is being added to the hate crime database.