Minor Hindu girl coerced to keep Roza and offer Namaz; Muslim perpetrator threatens victim's family with suicide
Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India 
12 March, 2025
Case Summary
In Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, two women, Shehnaz alias Sana and Khushnuma, attempted to convert a 16-year-old Hindu girl to Islam by luring her with promises of prosperity. They encouraged her to keep Roza and offer Namaz during Ramzan, which the girl followed for a few days. When her family discovered her observing Islamic practices, they intervened. In response, Shehnaz entered the girl’s uncle’s room, locked the door, and threatened to commit suicide and falsely implicate the family, prompting them to call the police. Following the incident, Hindu organisations protested. The girl’s father filed a complaint at Kotwali police station on March 13, 2025. Based on this, police registered a case under Sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. Both women were arrested, presented in court, and sent to jail. Additional charges, including disturbing the peace, criminal intimidation, and threatening to cause harm, were added. Shehnaz later sought bail, but the Additional Sessions Judge of Jhansi, Vijay Kumar Verma, rejected it on March 26, citing concerns that she could influence witnesses or evidence as she lives near the victim.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. The sub-category selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, and within this, the tertiary category selected is- 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. The second sub-category selected under Predatory Proselytisation 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 classifies as a religiously motivated hate crime because it involves the deliberate targeting of a Hindu minor girl by Muslim women, Shehnaz alias Sana and Khushnuma. The two women exploited the minor’s vulnerability by grooming her with false promises that fasting during Ramzan and offering Islamic prayers would bring her and her family wealth and prosperity. Their actions were a clear attempt to manipulate and indoctrinate the girl into abandoning her Hindu faith. When the minor’s family discovered the situation and intervened, Shehnaz escalated matters by forcibly entering the house, locking herself in a room, and threatening to commit suicide to implicate the family in a false case. This act of intimidation aimed to harass the family and silence any opposition to the attempted conversion. The combination of manipulation, exploitation of trust, religious grooming, and threats against the Hindu family highlights the communal targeting and hateful nature of the 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
female
Sources 
