Hindu minor girl deceived by Muslim man pretending to embrace Hinduism; later blackmailed and harassed

Case ID : f6647e9 | Location : Vadodara, Gujarat, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 4 March, 2025

Case ID : f6647e9

Vadodara, Gujarat, India

4 March, 2025

Hindu minor girl deceived by Muslim man pretending to embrace Hinduism; later blackmailed and harassed

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Case Summary

In the Atladara area of Vadodara, a Hindu minor was deceived and exploited under the guise of a relationship by a Muslim man who pretended to be interested in embracing Hinduism. The accused, identified as Saddam, reportedly gained her trust by falsely claiming to respect Hinduism and frequently accompanying her to temples. After establishing a romantic relationship, he coerced her into physical relations. After some time, when the victim decided to end the relationship, the accused, Saddam, began blackmailing and coercing her into physical relations through threats. Distressed by the harassment and coercion, she informed her family about the entire ordeal. Subsequently, a complaint was filed against Saddam at the Atladara police station, and an investigation into his arrest was initiated.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the first sub-category 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. The second sub-category and the subsequent tertiary category under the above-mentioned category selected here is- Brainwashed and/or groomed and Rape and sexual assault/harassment respectively. 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 fact that the accused deliberately pretended to embrace Hinduism and engaged in Hindu religious practices to gain the trust of the minor girl is a clear indication of religious manipulation. By misrepresenting his faith and actively visiting temples with her, he created a false sense of religious commonality, which made it easier to deceive and groom her into a relationship. This calculated deception goes beyond mere fraud—it reflects an intentional attempt to manipulate the victim’s religious sentiments, knowing that she would feel more secure in a relationship with someone she believed shared her faith. Such tactics also expose a deeper bias against Hinduism, as the accused did not approach the girl honestly but instead resorted to misrepresenting his identity, implying that he believed she would not willingly engage with him otherwise. This deception, followed by blackmail and harassment, reinforces the pattern of targeting Hindu women under false pretenses, ultimately leading to their emotional, psychological, and physical exploitation. The case underscores the use of religion as a tool for coercion, highlighting a targeted effort to take advantage of the victim’s faith and trust. It is important to mention here that the victim was a minor, which essentially means that the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. 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 matured, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Moreover, subtle manipulation tactics can be difficult to detect, making it challenging for parents to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. Since the underlying offence in this case is against a child of a specific faith and involves subtle tactics of manipulation, which obviously stems from a bias against the Hindu faith, this case has been documented as a hate crime.