Minor Dalit girl lured away, then raped, converted to Islam and married to Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh
Ramkola, Uttar Pradesh, India 
25 April, 2025
Case Summary
In the Ramkola police station area, Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh, a minor Dalit Hindu girl was lured away by a Muslim man named Sarfuddin Ansari. The girl was then raped, converted to Islam and married to Sarfuddin. According to the mother of the victim, Sarfuddin Ansari, a resident of Bhui Sohara, lured her 15-year-old daughter and took her away with him on April 26, 2025. After abducting her, the accused called up the victim's father and informed him that he had converted the girl to Islam and married her. Following this, on 1st May 2025, the mother of the victim went to the Ramkola police station and filed a complaint against Sarfuddin Ansari. Taking cognisance of the incident, SP Santosh Kumar Mishra directed the Ramkola police, leading to the arrest of the accused, Sarfuddin. The victim testified in her statement that the accused raped her, therefore, the police added sections of POCSO and rape, along with other relevant sections of the BNS.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory proselytisation. The subcategory selected within this is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category selected is- Conversion of minor and Family claims grooming. 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 case has been added to the tracker as it highlights a clear religious motivation, as the accused's actions revolved around manipulating and luring away the minor girl and then imposing his faith as a means of control, thereafter marrying the victim. By utilising religious conversion and marriage as a tool to exercise control over the victim, his actions demonstrate not only exploitation but also a deep-seated disregard for the victim's religion. The underlying motivation of this predatory proselytisation itself is animosity towards the professed faith of the victim. The primary aim of the perpetrator was to disenfranchise the Hindu minor from her professed faith. Since the central motivation was religion, this case has been added as a hate crime. Further, since the victim was a minor, it indicates a lack of consent and a genuine change of conscience. It is a well-established fact that children are more susceptible to manipulation since they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully mature, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. They are not mature enough to understand and make any life-changing decisions like changing one's religion or getting involved in romantic or sexual relationships. An aspect to be considered is that the parents of the victim state that she was lured away by the accused, forcibly converted to Islam and married; this highlights coercion and deep-seated religious animosity towards the victim and her faith. This depicts that the underlying agenda of the accused was the religious conversion of the victim, depicting a deep disdain for the victim's Hindu faith. Hindu girls and women are most vulnerable to religiously motivated crimes like forced conversion and forced marriages at the hands of Muslim men. This is a glaring example of a crime motivated by religious profiling, as it has been observed that in many cases, Muslim perpetrators target Hindu women due to inherent animosity towards Hindus, particularly Hindu women. Rape of Hindu women or girls at hands of Muslim men, along with forced conversion and marriage, highlights that this is not merely a case of sexual violence, but also of animosity and objectification of the woman rooted in her religious identity. The use of sexual violence and intimidation is not the result of any personal dispute, but rather stems from hostility towards the victim's faith. Since this case meets all the parameters of a religiously motivated crime, therefore, it has been categorised under the Hate Crime database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 1
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
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