Hindu girl harassed, threatened, and blackmailed to convert by Muslim man out on bail, was jailed for kidnapping her earlier
Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, India 
14 July, 2025
Case Summary
A Hindu girl in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, was harassed, threatened, and blackmailed to convert to Islam by a man named Adil from Gangwal village. Adil had earlier kidnapped the same girl two months ago, after which he was arrested and jailed. The police recovered the girl following the intervention of the Superintendent of Police, but Adil was released on bail two weeks ago. Since his release, Adil had been stalking the teenager in her village, following her movements, and pressuring her to live with him and convert to Islam. He threatened that if she refused, he would circulate obscene videos of her. The girl informed her family, and on 15 September, Adil again confronted her in the village, stalked her, and committed obscene acts. When her family tried to intervene, Adil attempted to attack them. The victim’s father lodged a complaint against Adil and two others. Vishweshwarganj police registered a case under serious sections of law. Station in-charge Raj Kumar Pandey confirmed that strict action would be taken.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category under this is: Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory under this 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 Hinduphobia Tracker because it illustrates a sustained and deliberate attempt to harass a Hindu minor with the objective of forcing her conversion to Islam. What makes this case particularly grave is that the perpetrator, Adil, is a repeat offender. He had earlier kidnapped the same girl and was only recently released on bail. His immediate return to the victim’s village and the continuation of threats and coercion demonstrate both premeditation and persistence in targeting the girl. Adil was not merely harassing the teenager in an isolated instance but was systematically stalking her, pressuring her to abandon her religion, and demanding that she live with him under the condition of conversion. The threat to circulate obscene videos further underscores the coercive nature of his actions. This is not a case of voluntary interaction or personal dispute but a clear attempt to exploit a vulnerable Hindu girl by using intimidation, humiliation, and blackmail as tools of religious conversion. The harassment is directly linked to the girl’s Hindu identity. By demanding that she embrace his religion as a precondition for her safety, Adil weaponised threats and blackmail to attack her freedom of faith. Such behaviour exemplifies predatory proselytisation through harassment and coercion, where the victim’s right to live safely within her own religion is systematically undermined. The fact that Adil had already been arrested for kidnapping the same girl only months earlier and resumed the same pattern of conduct after securing bail reinforces the religiously motivated nature of his actions. This repeated targeting is not incidental but rooted in hostility toward the victim’s faith, intended to erase her Hindu identity by force. The case is therefore recorded as a religiously motivated hate crime: a Hindu girl repeatedly harassed, blackmailed, and pressured to convert by a man who had already once abducted her, highlighting both the persistence of predatory proselytisation and the grave risks faced by Hindu minors. Disclaimer: It should be noted that media reports on this case indicate that the victim was first kidnapped two months prior to the present incident, though the exact date of that abduction is not specified. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents from the point at which the victim’s ordeal can be reasonably traced, we have considered the timeline as beginning two months earlier, i.e., 15 July 2025, while also noting that the latest development was reported on September 15, 2025.
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
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
