Married Hindu woman abducted, forced into religious conversion and nikah in Pakistan's Sindh

Case ID : ea348e5 | Location : Sanghar, Sindh, Pakistan | Date of Incident : Sun, 20 April, 2025

Case ID : ea348e5

Sanghar, Sindh, Pakistan

20 April, 2025

Married Hindu woman abducted, forced into religious conversion and nikah in Pakistan's Sindh

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

Gulali, a married Hindu woman from the minority Hindu community in Sindh, Pakistan, was abducted by a Muslim individual named Hanif. According to local activists, this abduction was not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of targeted coercion against Hindu women in the region. Gulali was subjected to forcible religious conversion to Islam, followed by a forced nikah (marriage). Hindu minorities in Pakistan face persistent persecution, marked by systemic discrimination, violence, and forced conversions. Hindus, particularly women and young girls, are often abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to Muslim men with little to no legal recourse. Temples are frequently vandalised or destroyed, and Hindu communities are subjected to social and economic marginalisation. Blasphemy laws are disproportionately used against Hindus, leading to false accusations and severe punishments. Many Hindu families are forced to flee their homes due to religious intolerance, living in constant fear of attacks. This sustained persecution highlights the dire conditions for Hindus in Pakistan, where their religious identity makes them targets of oppression.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category- Predatory proselytisation. The sub-category selected 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 qualifies as a hate crime because it involves the abduction and coercion of a married Hindu woman for the purpose of forced religious conversion and marriage (Nikah). The woman, Gulali, was reportedly taken against her will by a man named Hanif and pressured to renounce her Hindu identity—a clear violation of her religious freedom and personal agency. Such actions are not just criminal in nature but are also motivated by hostility towards the victim's religious background. When a Hindu woman, already married within her faith, is subjected to such coercive conversion and marriage, it becomes a direct attack on her identity and fundamental rights, making it a significant case of religious-motivated hate crime. This incident is emblematic of a longstanding and deeply entrenched pattern of persecution faced by Hindu minorities in Pakistan. It mirrors the widespread and well-documented practices of targeted violence, abductions, and forced conversions that have afflicted the Hindu community across various regions of the country. Reports and human rights documentation consistently highlight how Hindu women are especially vulnerable to such attacks, often with little to no intervention from authorities, and how these crimes are frequently facilitated or ignored by local institutions, including the police.