Hindu families harassed and pressured to convert to Islam by Muslim man in Gariaband, Chhattisgarh

Case ID : 30a747e | Location : Gariaband, Chhattisgarh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 10 March, 2026

Case ID : 30a747e

Gariaband, Chhattisgarh, India

10 March, 2026

Hindu families harassed and pressured to convert to Islam by Muslim man in Gariaband, Chhattisgarh

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In the Gariaband district of Chhattisgarh, Hindu families were harassed and pressured to convert to Islam by a Muslim man named Altamas Siddiqui. The incident came to light when the Hindu victims submitted written complaints to the Chhattisgarh State Waqf Board detailing sustained pressure and threats. One of the victims, a Hindu woman named Smita Waldekar, stated that Siddiqui, who served as a mutawalli (manager of a Waqf), pressured her to convert and adopt the name “Fatima,” while also threatening her with job loss and imprisonment if she refused. Upon reviewing the complaints, the Waqf Board removed him from his post and formally wrote to the state Home Minister, Vijay Sharma, seeking registration of an FIR. This action marked the first administrative step in the case, with further legal proceedings initiated through communication with state authorities.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. This case has been added to the tracker because Hindu families were harassed and pressured to convert to Islam by a Muslim man named Altamas Siddiqui. The Hindu victim, Smita Waldekar, stated that Altamas Siddiqui pressured her to convert to Islam. Pressuring a Hindu individual to discard her religious faith and embrace another was a direct attack on her religious identity and dignity. It was not a matter of personal choice; it was coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity. Such an attempt reflects religious animosity because the act was not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. When the victim resisted these demands, she was threatened with job loss and imprisonment. Such threats created an environment of fear and compulsion, significantly undermining the possibility of free choice. In such cases, threats serves a dual purpose: physical subjugation and religious humiliation. The intention was to break the victim down, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, so that she could be converted. This was not random; it was systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. Furthermore, the accused also pressured the victim to change her name to 'Fatima', an explicitly Muslim name. It was an attempt aimed at distancing her from her Hindu cultural identity. It was essentially an assertion of Islamic identity while simultaneously erasing her Hindu identity. This element reinforced the pattern of coercion aimed at altering not only belief but also outward markers of identity. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert. Such acts were not merely personal crimes; they were rooted in a desire to dominate and erase the religious identity of the victim. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker acknowledges that multiple Hindu families were subjected to pressure for religious conversion by the accused. However, only one victim, Smita Waldekar, has been explicitly identified; therefore, the victim count has been recorded as one. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim was pressured for conversion. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media, 11 March 2026.