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A police team from Bijnor has traveled to Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district to bring home a 17-year-old who his family says was converted to Islam against his will while working there. The case, which surfaced after videos and a letter began circulating online, has raised immediate questions about the treatment of a minor, the credibility of digital evidence and the potential for communal friction.
Family alleges coercion; mosque records a different version
The teenager, identified as Vishal Kumar by relatives in Khanjahanpur Bahadar village, left Bijnor earlier this month seeking work. His father, Krishna Kumar, told police that the boy had travelled to Kupwara with a local man and later sent material that showed him praying and presenting himself under a new name.
On May 17 the family received clips, a message and a letter from an unknown number that, they say, announced Vishal’s conversion. Disturbed by the content, the family filed a complaint the same day, alleging a conspiracy and requesting urgent action to recover the youth.
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Police response and investigation
Local authorities say a First Information Report has been lodged and that investigators have been dispatched to Kupwara to locate and bring the teenager back to Bijnor. Officers stressed that further steps will depend on the young man’s account once he is reunited with his family.
“We have registered a case under the appropriate sections and are examining the matter,” a senior officer in Bijnor said, confirming a team had left for Kashmir and that phone records, travel details and the videos will form part of the probe.
Meanwhile, the material spreading on social platforms prompted local Hindu groups to approach district officials, increasing public attention to the matter.
What the mosque says
A document attributed to the office of the Markazi Jamia Masjid in Glasdaji Manigah has also circulated. It states that the boy willingly accepted Islam on May 15, took the name Mohammad Hamza, and that the change of faith occurred under the supervision of a local cleric in the presence of witnesses.
That account directly conflicts with the family’s claim that the youth was pressured into conversion while away from home. Police say reconciling the two versions — and determining whether any offence was committed — requires interviewing the teenager and verifying the authenticity of the recordings and the letter.
- Key timeline: Travel to Kupwara earlier in May; brief return home; left again; family received material on May 17.
- Official action: FIR filed by Bijnor police; investigative team dispatched to Kupwara.
- Claims in dispute: Family alleges forcible conversion; mosque document asserts voluntary acceptance of Islam.
- Evidence under review: Videos, the purported mosque letter, phone records and travel logs.
The case touches on several immediate issues: the legal status of a minor away from home, the evidentiary weight of social-media material in contested conversions, and the risk of local tensions escalating as interest grows around the incident.
Authorities have not released further details about the accused individuals named by the complainant, and investigators declined to speculate on motive while evidence is being collected. The police have indicated that any prosecution will rest on the teenager’s own testimony and the outcome of technical checks on the circulated content.
