Minor Hindu girl lured away and forcefully converted to Islam; renamed on Aadhaar

Case ID : e2754b4 | Location : Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 5 September, 2025

Case ID : e2754b4

Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India

5 September, 2025

Minor Hindu girl lured away and forcefully converted to Islam; renamed on Aadhaar

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Family claims grooming

Conversion of minor

Pattern of targeting Hindus

Case Summary

A minor Hindu girl was lured and forcefully converted to Islam by a Muslim youth in Chaurakhas, Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh. On 6 September 2025, the father of the minor Hindu girl filed a complaint at Chaurakhas police station. He stated that Munajir alias Nazir Ansari, a resident of Laxmipur Mahant, had lured his daughter away. He accused the man of enticing her, carrying out her religious conversion, changing her identity to a Muslim name, and even preparing a new Aadhaar card under this false identity. Acting on the complaint, the police registered FIR No. 128/2025 under multiple charges. Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar Mishra formed special teams to trace the girl and arrest the accused. On 14 September, the police successfully recovered the victim. During the investigation, it was revealed that the accused had deceitfully converted her religion, renamed her Muskan Khatoon, and arranged for a fraudulent Aadhaar card in this new identity. Subsequently, on 17 September, Chaurakhas police arrested the accused and sent him to jail. He was booked under sections 137(2)/352/351(3) of BNS. Additional sections 64, 78, 87 BNS, provisions of the POCSO Act (3/4), and Section 3/5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act 2021 was also evoked. Police also noted that this was not the first time Nazir Ansari had been accused of such crimes. Just two years earlier, in 2023, he was booked under Sections 363, 366, 342, 376 IPC, and 3/4 POCSO Act for abducting and sexually assaulting another minor girl.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This incident has been added to the tracker under the category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the sub-category selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Further, the three tertiary categories under which it has been placed are: Family claims grooming, Pattern of targeting Hindus and Conversion of minor. 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 incident qualifies as a hate crime because it was not a case of personal choice or relationship but of systematic targeting, deception, and coercion rooted in religious identity. The minor Hindu girl was deliberately lured away by the accused, who then erased her original identity by converting her, renaming her as Muskan Khatoon, and even preparing a fraudulent Aadhaar card in that name. Such acts are not simply about exploitation of one individual—they represent an assault on her faith, family, and community. The girl’s father made it clear that his daughter was misled and manipulated, which shows this was not voluntary but the result of grooming and psychological control. This is further reinforced by the accused’s history: two years earlier, he had been charged for abducting and exploiting another minor Hindu girl under similar circumstances. That pattern makes clear that Hindu girls were deliberately chosen as targets, reflecting hostility directed specifically at their religious identity. The fact that the victim was a minor adds an even more serious dimension. She was legally incapable of giving meaningful consent to either conversion or marriage, yet the accused went ahead and imposed a new religious identity on her. This demonstrates predatory intent and calculated exploitation of her vulnerability. When taken together, the manipulation of a minor, the deliberate erasure of her Hindu identity, the use of coercion and threats, and the repeated pattern of targeting Hindu girls, the incident goes far beyond personal wrongdoing. It shows a clear hate toward Hindus as a community, making it a religiously motivated hate crime.