Minor Hindu girl targeted and lured away by Muslim man concealing his religious identity
Mandya, Karnataka, India 
11 January, 2024
Case Summary
In Karnataka’s Mandya district, a minor Hindu girl was lured into a relationship by a 19-year-old Muslim man named Sayyad Tabrez, who concealed his identity. He led her away while deceiving her with a false Hindu identity. According to media reports, both the girl and Tabrez were from the same locality. He had maintained a relationship with her for an extended period and, on 12th January 2024, eloped with her. A case was registered against Tabrez under the POCSO Act. The police launched an investigation following the registration of the case. The girl was later located, examined, and returned to her parents. In the aftermath, Hindu organisations staged protests, stating Tabrez had promoted "love jihad". They demanded that the National Investigation Agency take over the case. The term "Love Jihad" refers to a pattern in which Muslim men target Hindu women after religiously profiling them, luring them into romantic relationships and marriages, with the ultimate purpose of conversion to Islam or sexual exploitation, all grounded in religious animosity.
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- Man pretends to be Hindu. When a non-Hindu man pretends to be a Hindu to deceive a Hindu woman into a relationship, the act is seen as triggered by malafide intentions. In some cases, the woman eventually accepts the man’s original religious identity and converts after the man’s identity is revealed. These cases could be argued as cases of religious brainwashing and a result of the pressure a woman feels after getting into a relationship with a man. The woman, it can be argued, also changed her religious identity because of the stigma she believes she might face if she chooses to walk out of a deceptive relationship. However, for the purpose of documenting hate crimes, the cases in this subcategory are limited to those where there is explicit violence aimed at religious conversion against the wishes of the victim (force-feeding beef, blackmailing with intimate videos, rape on refusal to convert, etc), or if the woman herself complains of the man’s religious deception. In such cases, it is established that the deception of the non-Hindu man had a specific aim of religious conversion or targeting of the victim due to her Hindu religious identity, therefore, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. In this case, a minor Hindu girl was lured away by a Muslim man who pretended to be Hindu. The perpetrator’s act of deception—posing as a Hindu—demonstrated both a clear bias and malicious intent towards the girl’s religion. By concealing his true identity, he manipulated her trust and targeted her on false pretences, revealing a calculated attempt to exploit her based on her religious background. This was a direct violation of her religious beliefs, and the deliberate choice to hide his faith strongly underscored the religious motive behind the offence. Identity concealment in this context was far more than a simple personal ruse; it was a strategy rooted in religious profiling and targeting. The accused knew that the girl, being Hindu, would likely have declined his advances if she had known his real identity. By circumventing her trust through deceit, he gave unmistakable evidence of religious intent. This kind of deception is not isolated—it reflects a wider pattern in which Hindu women and minor girls have been specifically singled out under false identities, often with the aim of coercion or conversion. Such targeted victimisation based on religion reveals a fundamental disregard for Hindu beliefs and exposes deeper animosity towards Hindus and their faith. It is crucial to note that the victim in this case was a minor. As a child, she was not able to give informed consent or truly understand the consequences of entering a relationship with an adult, especially one of a different faith. Minors are innately vulnerable to manipulation and coercion, and the perpetrator deliberately exploited this vulnerability. His actions further demonstrated the offence’s religiously motivated nature and made it even more reprehensible. Given that this case involved targeting and luring a minor Hindu girl away by a Muslim man who concealed his identity, it clearly met the criteria of a religiously motivated crime. Consequently, this case has been added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: Media reports stated that the victim had been targeted under false pretences and a false identity by the Muslim perpetrator over a long period of time. However, media coverage did not specify the exact date when this targeting began. It only noted that on 12th January 2024, he lured her away from her home and eloped with her. Consequently, this date is used as the indicative date of the incident. Hinduphobia Tracker records the date when the victim’s ordeal began rather than the date when it was reported in the media. In this case, the media reported the incident on 18th January 2024, but the Tracker uses 12th January 2024 as the reference date because that marks the known start of the victim’s ordeal.
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
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
