The term "grooming gangs" brings to mind disturbing cases across various countries, most notably the infamous "rape jihad" incidents in the United Kingdom. For nearly four decades, gangs primarily composed of Pakistani Muslim men systematically groomed, coerced, sexually assaulted, and brutalized White Christian and other non-Muslim girls. In India, the recent case of the sexual exploitation of minor Hindu girls by a Muslim grooming gang in Rajasthan’s Beawar district has reignited painful memories of the unresolved 1992 Ajmer Scandal.
Beawar Grooming Gang Exposed: Hindu Girls Trapped, Threatened, and Forced into Conversion
On February 17, 2025, police in Beawar arrested several individuals, including Rehan Mohammad (20), Sohail Mansuri (19), Lukman (20), Arman Pathan (19), Sahil Qureshi (19), and two minors, on charges of sexual assault and forced religious conversion. The individuals are accused of targeting Hindu girls, primarily students from a local school, and coercing them into converting to Islam.
According to police reports and victim testimony, the accused allegedly established contact with the girls via mobile phone, subsequently sexually assaulting them and creating explicit recordings. These recordings were then used to further exploit and abuse the victims. The accused also provided the girls with mobile phones for continued communication and control.
One victim stated that Sohail Mansuri provided her with a phone and pressured her to introduce her friends to his associates. He then allegedly coerced her into wearing a burqa, taught her Islamic practices, and forced her to recite the Kalma. The victim also reported that he cut her hand with a blade. The individuals arrested face charges under the POCSO Act and other relevant legal provisions.
The victims reported that the men would arrive in new vehicles, such as Bullet motorcycles and various cars, to take them away. One of the victims stated, “They once told me that a Brahmin girl would fetch ₹20 lakh if sold, and you (a Dalit) would get ₹10 lakh.” The girls stated in their testimonies that they were repeatedly blackmailed with explicit photos and videos and coerced into luring other girls.
The case came to light when one of the victims was found with a mobile phone. When the family contacted one of the accused men, he responded with threats and abusive language. Alarmed, the victim’s family immediately approached the police, leading to an unfolding investigation that revealed multiple victims. The police discovered that several men were involved, not only exploiting the girls but also extorting money and forcing them to steal from their homes.
A victim from Beawar disclosed that the group pressured her to visit local religious figures and mosques. On February 23rd, the police arrested former councillor Hakim Qureshi in Bijaynagar, further exposing the involvement of multiple individuals in the network.
So far, eight suspects have been arrested, while three minors have been taken into custody. As the investigation continues, tensions remain high in Beawar, with the local Hindu community expressing outrage over the incident.
The Ajmer Scandal of 1992
The Beawar case echoes the deeply disturbing 1992 Ajmer sex scandal, a notorious instance of systemic sexual abuse in India. For years, a group led by Farooq and Nafees Chishti, members of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah's Khadim families, systematically targeted hundreds of Hindu school and college girls, aged 11 to 20.
These men, some of whom held positions within the Youth Congress, lured their victims to secluded locations under false pretenses, where they were raped and photographed. These images were then used to blackmail the girls, forcing them to recruit additional victims, creating a vicious cycle of abuse. The pattern began with Farooq Chishti sexually assaulting a student, using compromising photos to coerce her into introducing him to other girls, who were subsequently subjected to the same abuse.
The scandal was exposed in April 1992 by the newspaper Dainik Navjyoti, revealing the widespread sexual exploitation of numerous schoolgirls, including daughters of prominent local figures. The perpetrators attempted to destroy evidence as the story gained traction.
Despite the public outcry following the revelations, justice was slow and incomplete. It was also revealed that authorities, including police and government officials, had been aware of the abuse for a year prior to the newspaper report but had failed to act, allegedly due to the perpetrators' connections to the influential Khadim families and fears of communal tension. Digvijay Singh, then Rajasthan's Home Minister, had reportedly seen incriminating photographs months before the scandal became public.
Initially, police attempted to minimize the severity of the situation, leading to further public protests. A senior police official even questioned the character of the victims. An investigation ensued, revealing that many victims had taken their own lives or were too traumatized to come forward. Ultimately, only a small number of victims provided statements.
In 1998, some of the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment, but subsequent appeals resulted in acquittals and reduced sentences. After years of legal proceedings, a district court convicted and sentenced six remaining individuals to life imprisonment in August 2024. Of the estimated 250 victims only 12 filed formal complaints.
The Love Jihad Network in Kerala’s Malappuram: From Ambitions to Burqas
In 2020, the Syro Malabar Church, the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, and several Christian organizations expressed concerns over the rising number of alleged "Love Jihad" cases in Kerala. These Christian groups echoed similar concerns raised by Hindu organizations, which claimed that certain groups were targeting young women, indoctrinating them under the guise of religious studies, forcibly converting them to Islam, and subsequently sending them to serve ISIS as sex slaves. At the time, Fr. Varghese Vallikkatt, spokesperson for the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), criticized the government for ignoring these cases, calling its inaction a form of "silent sanction."
Reports of systematic "Love Jihad" surfaced in the media as early as 2016. In July of that year, Mini Vijayan, a military official, alleged that her daughter, Aparna, had been forcibly converted to Islam. Aparna was later traced to Sathyasarani, also known as the Markazul Hidaya Educational and Charitable Trust in Malappuram. When she appeared in court, she claimed to have willingly converted to Islam and refused to return to her mother. It was later discovered that she had married an auto driver named Aashiq from Malappuram. Investigations revealed that literature from fugitive Islamic preacher Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation had been used to radicalize Hindu girls.
In another case, the Kerala police arrested two individuals, Sheena Farzana and Naser, in 2011. They were accused of recruiting young girls in Kerala for ISIS in Yemen and were reportedly affiliated with Sathyasarani, an organization linked to the now-banned Islamist outfit PFI. Investigations uncovered several other cases of targeted conversions. A Hindu girl named Nimisha, along with 21 other Hindu women, converted to Islam and married men who later joined ISIS.
When the National Investigation Agency (NIA) began probing ISIS links and alleged "Love Jihad" cases in 2017, they discovered that two Hindu women, Athira and Akhila (who later became Hadiya), had been influenced by the same person—a PFI worker named Sainaba. Many of these cases were connected to the Sathyasarani Trust in Malappuram. During a raid, authorities found documents suggesting that 60 to 70 Hindu and Christian women were enrolled at Markazul Hidaya for "religious studies" (suspected conversion programs). Several similar organizations in Kerala, reportedly backed by significant funding, have been operating under the radar. Political considerations and concerns about offending certain groups have contributed to slow investigations.
Another case involved a Christian woman named Cynthia from Kerala, who reported that her daughter, Tabitha, had abruptly left her studies in a Gulf nation after announcing her conversion to Islam. Tabitha later founded the Bahrain-based Discover Islam Society. During a meeting with her mother, a hijab-clad Tabitha stated that she could no longer live among non-Muslims.
In 2016, reports indicated that between 2011 and 2015, a total of 5,975 individuals in Kerala had converted to Islam, with 1,410 conversions occurring in 2015 alone.
Despite numerous reported cases, some political and ideological groups have dismissed concerns over "Love Jihad" as a conspiracy theory propagated by the BJP and RSS. The controversy resurfaced in 2023 with the release of the film The Kerala Story, which depicted Hindu women being targeted, brainwashed, sexually abused, and coerced into converting to Islam before being forced into terrorism and other illegal activities. The film sparked widespread debate and outrage.
Arsha Vidya Samajam, an organization dedicated to countering "Love Jihad," has been working for years to rescue affected women, help them reconnect with their roots, and provide them with social and psychological support.
Relentless Abuse: Rape, Threats, Forced Conversions, and Jihadi Tactics in Uttar Pradesh
Western Uttar Pradesh has witnessed several cases of forced conversions and other crimes linked to Islamist elements. In 2020, the Kanpur Police established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) following multiple reports of Hindu women being coerced into converting to Islam under the pretense of marriage, particularly in Kanpur’s Juhi Colony.
In November 2020, after investigating 14 cases registered across the Kanpur district, the SIT submitted its report to the Kanpur range inspector general. Out of these, 11 were criminal cases. One such case involved an individual named Fateh Khan, who posed as Aryan Mehrotra to deceive a 14-year-old Hindu girl in Kanpur’s Gopal Nagar. He manipulated the minor, subjected her to sexual assault, and threatened her parents. The SIT report revealed that he also pressured her to convert to Islam and even had her Aadhar card issued under the name Mariyam Fatima. He was subsequently charged under the POCSO Act along with other relevant legal provisions.
Another case detailed in the report involved a man named Mohammed Ubais, also known as Babu, who disguised himself as a Hindu to lure a 16-year-old Hindu girl. With assistance from his sister, Mahi Hayat Khan, he attempted to brainwash and coerce the minor into converting to Islam. The girl was eventually rescued by her mother, and the accused was taken into custody.
The SIT report highlighted similar incidents in Naubasta, Govindnagar, Babu Purwa, Chakeri, and Juhi Colony, where a recurring pattern was observed. The perpetrators, under false identities, would establish relationships with Hindu girls, exploit them sexually, capture compromising images, and use threats and blackmail to force conversions.
Among the 11 cases the SIT investigated, legal violations were found in each, leading to the arrest of the accused individuals. Notably, seven of these cases involved minors.
Additionally, in 2020, the case of Shalini Yadav gained attention when she went missing and resurfaced two months later, having converted to Islam and adopted the name Fiza Fatima. She uploaded a video on Facebook explaining her conversion and marriage to Mohammad Faisal. However, her brother claimed she was a victim of a grooming network operating in Juhi Colony.
Reports from the same year indicated that within two months, five Hindu girls from Kanpur had eloped with Muslim men. Among them were two sisters from Awas Vikas, Kalyanpur, who fled with individuals named Shahrukh and another youth from Juhi Colony. In another case, two sisters from Panki Ratanpur Colony were targeted, but the younger sibling realized the deception and exposed the scheme.
Grooming Jihad: A Trail from the UK to India
The timeline and methods employed in numerous grooming gang cases have been meticulously documented, yet the sheer prevalence of these crimes necessitates a deeper exploration of their underlying motivations. Cases such as the Beawar scandal, the 1992 Ajmer incident, and the "love jihad" cases in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh reveal a disturbing pattern: organized groups targeting Hindu girls for sexual abuse and forced conversion to Islam. Beyond these high-profile cases, OpIndia's near-daily reporting and the Hinduphobia Tracker's extensive database highlight the widespread nature of "grooming jihad," often involving individual perpetrators. In 2023 alone, over 153 such cases were reported, demonstrating a consistent strategy of Muslim men exploiting the vulnerability of non-Muslim girls for sexual gratification and coerced religious conversion.
Unlike other religious conversion methods that may rely on financial incentives or promises of healing, "rape jihad" employs deception, sexual abuse, and psychological coercion. The pattern observed in India, with its emphasis on forced conversion, bears a striking resemblance to grooming gang cases reported in the UK, such as those in Rotherham and Telford. The modus operandi, which transcends geographical boundaries, involves building trust through gifts, flattery, or social media, escalating to sexual abuse and blackmail, and, in India, culminating in forced conversion to Islam. This behavior appears to be rooted in a belief system that devalues non-Muslims, portraying them as objects of conquest and their violation as a demonstration of religious dominance.
To the perpetrators of these crimes, Hindu and other non-Muslim girls are viewed as mere objects of pleasure, their violation considered a conquest of "infidels" and an assertion of Islamic dominance. This distorted mindset frames sexual exploitation as a tool to humiliate non-Muslims and establish a perceived "supremacy." The horrific cases in Beawar and Ajmer, as well as the pervasive reports from across India, serve as stark reminders of this religious chauvinism. Systemic failures, coupled with apathy towards victims, misplaced sympathy for perpetrators, fear of backlash, and political shielding, perpetuate this ongoing crisis.
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