Case Summary

In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Hindu girls were lured into relationships and selectively targeted by two Muslim men for forced conversion to Islam and marriage. The perpetrators also wanted to put the Hindu girls into sex trafficking. Congress leader Anwar Qadri paid Muslim youths to marry Hindu girls and push them into prostitution. The incident came to light when Bajrang Dal members caught two Muslim men, Sahil and Altaf, with a Hindu girl. During interrogation, both men said that Congress councillor Anwar Qadri gave Rs 1 lakh to one and Rs 2 lakh to the other, instructing them to marry Hindu girls and put them into prostitution. After a video of the apprehended men went viral, Bajrang Dal expressed anger and announced plans to protest, demanding strict action against those involved. Bajrang Dal handed Sahil and Altaf over to Banganga police for questioning. Further action would follow after the victim’s statement was recorded. Reports revealed that Sahil worked at a car showroom, while Altaf was a painter. Both were detained and handed over to the police, with the case to be registered based on the girl’s statement. Bajrang Dal stated that information from the interrogation shows that Congress councillor Anwar Qadri paid the accused to target Hindu women. Hindu activists found a chat with a Hindu girl open on one of the accused’s mobile phones. In the chat, the Muslim man, identifying himself as the girl’s boyfriend, Ayan Lala from Narwal, told a Hindu youth, “Do whatever you can, I will make the girl accept Islam, and you will not get anything from me.” When asked about his motives, he replied, “This is what is written in our religion.” A search of Sahil and Altaf’s phones revealed photos of several Hindu girls taken during their visit to the Mahakal jyotirlinga in Ujjain. Councillor Anwar Qadri denied the accusations, claiming he is not financially capable of paying anyone and does not know either of the accused. He also said he does not support religious extremism.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or groomed. Within this, the subcategory is- Pattern of targeting Hindu minors. 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. The other subcategory selected is- Forced Conversion before marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. In such cases, typically, two patterns emerge. First, when the relationship is consensual, and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. The second is when the woman gets into a marriage with the man pretending to share her faith. Later, when the truth is revealed, the man starts pressuring the woman to convert her religion and give up her religious identity. In both the situations, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The other primary category selected here is- Attack on Hindu religious representations, and within this, the sub-category selected is- Breaking rules of place of worship. Sanatan Dharma is not a religion of one book, which is to say that while it has religious scriptures that form the central tenets of the faith, there are several traditions followed through thousands of years, mostly passed from generation to generation orally. One of these oral traditions or written traditions is the rules of specific temples. Certain temples have rules which are traditional rules, dependent on the worship of the presiding deities. These rules and traditions have been followed for thousands of years whether they find scriptural mention or not. Such traditions are based on the nature and rules of worship of the presiding deity of that temple. Any non-compliance of these traditions owing to animosity towards the faith or for the sake of activism stems not only from the lack of faith in the presiding deity but also disregard for the faith of the devotees of that deity/temple and implicit bias against the faith, the tradition and the deity itself. Since these specific traditions are central to the faith of the devotees of that specific temple and presiding deity, any non-compliance with these traditional rules would be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. This case is a textbook example of a hate crime against Hindu women, marked by a systematic and premeditated targeting based on religion. The Muslim perpetrators—Sahil and Altaf—deliberately lured Hindu girls under false pretences, not for personal relationships, but for religious conversion, sexual exploitation, and forced prostitution. These were not isolated actions, but part of an ideological campaign fueled by contempt for the Hindu faith and its followers. What makes this case even more disturbing is the explicit religious justification invoked during the act. When one of the accused was asked about his intent, he stated, “This is what is written in our religion.” This chilling admission reveals the deeper theological motive behind such crimes. It shows that the perpetrators did not view their actions as criminal, but as religiously sanctioned acts—framing forced conversion and sexual exploitation of Hindu girls as religious duty or entitlement. Such justifications are rooted in supremacist interpretations that consider Hindus as inferior and see conversion as a way to dominate and erase their identity. Additionally, this hate crime involved the desecration of sacred Hindu spaces. The perpetrators had taken photographs of Hindu girls at the Mahakal Jyotirlinga in Ujjain—a highly revered Shiva temple. The act of targeting Hindu girls during their temple visits not only betrays trust but also defiles spaces that are deeply spiritual for Hindus. This deliberate choice of location underscores how the perpetrators sought to infiltrate and violate Hindu religious sanctity itself, using sacred grounds as hunting grounds. It is both symbolic and strategic—an attack on the body and soul of the Hindu community. Further aggravating the hate-driven nature of the crime is the alleged involvement of Congress councillor Anwar Qadri, who reportedly paid money to the perpetrators to target Hindu women. When a political figure incentivises the conversion and trafficking of girls from another religion, it is no longer a case of individual criminality—it becomes a systemic, organised campaign against a religious community. This constitutes not only a gross abuse of power but also a communal conspiracy. In sum, this case represents more than just criminal exploitation—it reflects a religiously motivated campaign of humiliation, conversion, desecration, and subjugation. The targeting of Hindu girls for their faith, the invocation of Islamic theology to justify it, and the violation of sacred Hindu spaces all converge to make this a clear hate crime, warranting inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker.