Field Investigation: Hindu Boy, 9, Forcibly Circumcised and Enrolled in Madrassa

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, June 2022: When this author reached Plot Number 283 in Loha Mandi, an industrial colony in Ghaziabad, about half a dozen men were gathered on a cemented verandah outside a one-room office.

Inside the office were a few chairs, a large table, a single bed and walls almost entirely covered with calendars featuring Hindu deities.

The men grew silent when asked about Monu (name changed), the nine-year-old boy who had been rescued from the premises just days earlier.

“I am a reporter,” I said, introducing myself.

The group exchanged looks and collectively shook their heads.

“We cannot talk. None of us will talk. Else the police will come and put us in jail,” one man said.

“But you rescued a child,” I replied. “Why would the police arrest you for that?”

“It was Rajesh who posted the videos and tagged the police on Twitter,” another man said. “Now he is underground, switching locations, keeping his phone switched off.”

The exchange was surprising. The men who had drawn attention to a case of illegal adoption and forced conversion of a minor were now fearful of police.

Case came to light on Twitter

About a week earlier, a newly created Twitter account under the name Rajesh posted a video showing a boy with shaved head and bruises. In the clip, the child alleged that he was frequently assaulted by the man who had “adopted” him.

The video quickly caught the attention of the verified handle of Ghaziabad Police, who responded by asking for a contact number. Rajesh replied with an address. (The posts have since been deleted).

Two days later, on June 10, 2022, the Ghaziabad Police released a press note, stating that the Kavi Nagar police station had registered a First Information Report (FIR) in a case of illegal adoption and forced conversion. The police said they had arrested a man named Umar Mohammed.

The case was officially filed as FIR Number 718/2022, with Yashpal Singh, an officer of the Kavi Nagar police station, listed as the complainant.

What the FIR says

According to the complained in the FIR, on June 8, Officer Yashpal Singh received information about the case through Twitter. He, along with two other officers, Harish Tiwari and Sonu Kumar, visited Plot Number 283 in Loha Mandi.

There, they found a nine-year-old boy who identified himself as Sonu, a native of Rafiganj, in Aurangabad district of Bihar. The boy said his mother, Anshu, died in a train accident when he was quite young. After that, he was looked after by neighbours Soni (alias Kunni Devi) and Mithlesh Yadav, who provided him food and shelter until he turned nine. Sonu had no memory of his father.

On April 7, 2022, Soni and Mithlesh handed over the child to another couple – Umar Mohammed and wife Babli from Loglah village in Bulandshahr – through a middleman named Zulfikar.

Zulfikar hails from the same village in Bulandshahr and works at Ghaziabad’s Loha Mandi. The transfer was formalized through a Rs 50 stamp paper.

Following this informal adoption, Zulfikar, Babli and Umar Mohammed forcefully subjected the child to circumcision for his conversion to Islam.

Based on the statement, police invoked sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 326 (causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, along with sections 75 and 80 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2000, and sections 3 and 5 of the Uttar Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021.

On June 12, Ghaziabad Police announced the arrests of Mithlesh Yadav and Soni while saying that Zulfikar was absconding.

The child’s story

When this correspondent visited the site, the group of men gathered outside the office said they had rescued the child.

Sanjeev Pandey, the owner of Plot Number 283 and a transporter by profession, emerged from the office. He agreed to speak, though he declined to be photographed.

Sanjeev said that about three months ago, Zulfikar, who works as a scrap dealer at the adjoining plot – Number 284 – brought a boy to work. When asked about the child, Zulfikar told Sanjeev’s staff that he had “bought” the child.

According to Sanjeev, Zulfikar explained that the boy’s parents, migrants from Bihar, had died in an accident, and that a local couple, Mithlesh and Soni, had cared for the boy temporarily but eventually handed him over.

Sanjeev recounted that Zulfikar made the child “work like a servant” and beat him frequently. Concerned, Sanjeev confronted Zulfikar and made two specific requests: that he would not circumcise the boy and that he would stop beating him.

“Zulfikar took this as an affront,” Sanjeev said.

Within a week, the child disappeared. When Sanjeev asked about him, Zulfikar claimed he had sent the boy to his village in Bulandshahr.

A few weeks later, the boy reappeared, but this time with injuries marks and tales of horror.

“Zulfikar sent the child to us to show us his circumcised part,” Sanjeev said. “That’s how much of a harami [scoundrel] he turned out to be. It was his way of mocking us and our religion.”

The boy told Sanjeev and his staff that while in Bulandshahr, he was beaten regularly by Umar Mohammed and his family.

“Once, they threw a brick at his head, causing wounds,” Sanjeev said. “They forced him to do household work and sent him to the mosque to study Islamic prayers.”

Rajesh, the youngest member of Sanjeev’s staff and someone who “knows Twitter”, recorded videos of the child narrating his ordeal. These videos, accessed by this correspondent, show the boy describing the abuse in detail, identifying Umar and Babli as “abbu” and “ammi,” and pointing to injuries on his head.

In the videos, the boy also says, “Even my sister Zoya, who is younger than me, would beat me, and the entire family would just watch. But I never raised a hand on her.”

In the video, he refers to Mithlesh and Soni as his “mausa” and “mausi.”

Aftermath of arrests

After listening to the child and seeing his wounds, Sanjeev said he decided not to let the boy return to Zulfikar. He hid Sonu and did not disclose his whereabouts when the police arrived.

The police took Rajesh and Sonu with them. Rajesh, who works as a clerk in Sanjeev’s office, is also pursuing a diploma course, said Sanjeev.

The group at Plot 283 says they are now fearful of the police.

“The police are treating us like the culprits,” Sanjeev said. “They took Rajesh to the station and rebuked him for posting the video on Twitter. Since then, he has been in hiding.”

Rajesh’s landlord asked him to vacate his home due to repeated police visits, Sanjeev added. In the presence of this correspondent, Sanjeev tried calling Rajesh, but the phone was switched off.

“See for yourself,” he said, holding up the phone.

Sonu was sent to an orphanage in Govindpuram, placed there by the Child Welfare Committee.

Two months later, this correspondent visited Monu at the orphanage. He said he was happy as he, for the first time, given an opportunity to study here and was not assaulted. The management said they were looking for couples to adopt the children, including Monu.

An initial version of this report by this author was first published here.