Minor Hindu sisters abducted and lured into marriage by Muslim men, family alleges grooming
Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh, India 
10 March, 2025
Case Summary
In Nimna village, Burhanpur district, Madhya Pradesh, a 15-year-old minor Hindu girl and her 19-year-old Hindu sister were both abducted from their home by two Muslim men, identified as Arif Shabbir and Sohail. According to media reports, the two sisters went missing from their home, prompting their family to search for them. When they were unable to locate them, they filed a complaint at Nepanagar police station. In the complaint, the girl’s uncle, Jai Nagre, stated that Arif Shabbir and Sohail had lured his nieces away by luring them into marriage. He accused them of kidnapping the two girls. He stated that the two men had taken the girls somewhere, and the family had no knowledge of their whereabouts. The police immediately launched an investigation, treating the case as kidnapping under the pretext of marriage. Acting swiftly, the police arrested both accused and registered an FIR under charges of abduction and seduction for marriage. Within 24 hours, the police successfully located and safely recovered the two girls. Following their rescue, the accused were presented before the court, which subsequently ordered their imprisonment.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination and the tertiary category chosen is- 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. Here, two Hindu minor sisters were kidnapped and lured by two Muslim men. The relatives of the victims testified that they were lured by the Muslim perpetrator for marriage. The act of a Muslim man luring and kidnapping a Hindu minor under the pretext of marriage constitutes a religiously motivated hate crime, as it involves proselytisation through grooming, brainwashing, manipulation, or subtle indoctrination. In Islam, Nikah (Islamic marriage) is strictly governed by religious law, which mandates that both partners must be Muslim. This requirement effectively means that any Hindu woman deceived into a relationship under the false promise of marriage is ultimately pressured or forced into religious conversion. The premeditated targeting of a Hindu woman in this manner is not merely an act of deceit but a deliberate attempt to erase her religious identity and impose a different faith upon her, violating her fundamental right to religious freedom. This pattern of deception often involves emotional manipulation and coercion—either subtle or explicit—where marriage is conditioned upon the victim embracing Islam. By targeting Hindu women for conversion through fraudulent means, these perpetrators exhibit a pattern of religious aggression, where the ultimate goal is not a genuine partnership but the religious assimilation of the victim. This deliberate act of proselytisation, which strips a woman of her Hindu identity against her will, is a direct attack on her faith and community, making it a hate crime driven by religious motives. Here, it is also important to highlight that the victims were minors, 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, especially when they are employed by trusted authority figures in positions of influence. This makes it challenging for parents, to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. Since the underlying offence in this case is against children of a specific faith and involves subtle tactics of indoctrination, which obviously stems from a bias against the Hindu faith, this case has been documented as a hate crime.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 2
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Perpetrator held guilty by court
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
