Muslim clerics convert a minor Hindu girl to Islam by offering her gifts and other incentives, sexually exploits her by promising marriage
Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India 
12 July, 2023
Case Summary
In Kotwali Nagar of the Ayodhya district, Uttar Pradesh, some clerics reportedly forced a 16-year-old girl to drink Zamzam (Islamic holy water) in an effort to convert her to Islam. On July 14, 2023, her father filed a police complaint in which he named Khalid Ansari and Shivam Yadav as the perpetrators who were arrested. The complainant disclosed that Shivam Yadav initially introduced his daughter to a girl, who later introduced her to Khalid Ansari from Hasnu Katra. Ansari used gifts and other incentives to persuade her to convert to Islam. The complainant accused both Yadav and Ansari of running a conversion racket, alleging they abducted and trafficked vulnerable Hindu women. The victim, enrolled in a degree college in Ayodhya, was taken to various mosques and shrines by Ansari, where she interacted with multiple clerics and was coerced into drinking Zamzam water as part of a supposed purification ritual. Ansari, who is married with children, reportedly sent her to other individuals and confiscated her mobile phone to destroy evidence, according to the complaint. The culprits raped the young girl after promising to marry her. She was discovered by her father living at a girl’s house in Janoura, Ayodhya on July 13.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases therefore are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity forms the very heart of the crime itself. In this specific case, it is evident from the details that the Hindu victim was a minor which essentially means that the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Also, the victim presumably belonged to the economically weaker section of society, which is why the Muslim clerics lured her with gifts and other monetary inducements. This clearly means that the Muslim clerics were attempting to exploit a specific vulnerability of the victim. This case has also been added to the category 'hate crimes against women in relationship and sexual crimes' under the grooming secondary category. 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. In this case, the perpetrators not only sexually exploited the minor on the promise of marriage but also converted her to Islam. Since a minor does not have the agency to consent to either, it is evident that the perpetrators exploited the vulnerabilities of the minor and targeted to groom her specifically for the purpose of exploitation and conversion. Since exploiting vulnerabilities for the explicit purpose of conversion is purely based on animosity towards the victim's faith, this case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime.
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 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
