Hindu transgender woman in Sagar faces pressure for conversion threatened with death and physically assault by Muslim group after leaving gharana

Case ID : 30a7568 | Location : Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 19 March, 2026

Case ID : 30a7568

Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India

19 March, 2026

Hindu transgender woman in Sagar faces pressure for conversion threatened with death and physically assault by Muslim group after leaving gharana

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Harassment for conversion leading to exodus

Case Summary

Rani Thakur, a Hindu Kinnar (a member of the transgender community) residing in the Guru Kamla Bua Tiwari Ward near Singhal area in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh was subjected to sustained death threats, repeated physical assault attempts, stalking, and intimidation by a group of Muslim individuals led by Kiran alias Kaleem Khan and his associates, following her decision to not convert to Islam and leave her gharana (the traditional household structure within the Kinnar community). Rani Thakur stated that she was unable to leave her home due to the terror created by her perpetrators, and that her life was in immediate danger if prompt action was not taken. Jagatguru Kajal Maa, accompanied by supporting Kinnars, met the Superintendent of Police in Sagar and submitted a formal memorandum demanding security and action. Police confirmed that an investigation had been initiated. Rani Thakur left her gharana and subsequently contacted the police about the threats she was receiving. Following her departure from the gharana, Kiran, alias Kaleem Khan, Shahid Khan, Salim Khan, Raja Kiran, Kajal Kiran, Neha, Mehtab, and their family members and associates, began subjecting her to sustained death threats and physical assault attempts. Whenever Rani Thakur left her home, the perpetrators stopped her at different locations and attempted to assault her physically. The sustained campaign of intimidation, stalking, and physical assault attempts effectively confined Rani Thakur to her home, making it impossible for her to move freely. In her letter to the Superintendent of Police, Rani Thakur stated that she had sustained hand injuries on multiple occasions during the perpetrators' assault attempts, and that the perpetrators were likely in possession of illegal weapons, which she urged the administration to investigate. She warned that if prompt action was not taken, her murder could take place at any time. Jagatguru Kajal Maa stated that a specific Muslim group within the Kinnar community was exerting sustained pressure on Hindu Kinnars from Hindu families to convert to Islam, creating a situation of serious tension and conflict within the Kinnar community of Sagar. Other Kinnars also raised allegations of pressure and torture by the same individual and expressed their desire to leave the gharana and join Rani Thakur. A complaint regarding the forced conversion pressure had also been filed with the Bhopal administration prior to the meeting with the Sagar Superintendent of Police. Jagatguru Kajal Maa and her supporters met the Superintendent of Police and submitted a formal memorandum demanding security for Rani Thakur and other affected Kinnars and seeking strict action against those responsible. Police confirmed that an investigation had been initiated and that the actual situation would become clear only after all facts had been examined, following which appropriate action would be taken.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category for this case is "Predatory Proselytisation". The sub-category for this case 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. Another sub-category for this case is "Harassment for conversion leading to exodus". There have been cases where the Hindus living in an area, often with a majority dwelling belonging to non-Hindus or those harbouring animosity towards the Hindu faith, the Hindu residents experience pressure and threats. The pressure, threats or coercion is employed with two aims – the non-Hindu residents of the area want the Hindu residents to either convert their religion to the religion of the dominant residents or leave the area and relocate, so the area could be turned into an exclusive ghetto for adherents of the non-Hindu faith or those who harbour animosity towards the Hindu faith. In several cases, the aim of exodus is explicit. However, in several cases, the demand for exodus of Hindu residents is not explicit, however, harassment by non-Hindu residents leaves the Hindu residents no option but to leave the area, thereby, turning the area into an exclusive ghetto of non-Hindu residents. In such cases, there are instances of harassment or threats to the Hindu residents explicitly. For example, in the Hauz Qazi case of 2019, the Muslim residents claimed that mob violence against the Hindu residents had been triggered by a parking dispute. However, the violence did turn religious with a temple being desecrated and being directed specifically against the Hindu residents. The Hindu residents of the area were clear that the violence was religiously motivated and one of the motives was to affect an exodus of the Hindu residents. In such cases, even though the perpetrators have not explicitly expressed the aim of affecting exodus, the given circumstances and harassment, coupled with prevailing circumstances and precedent, point to the intention of exodus and therefore would be categorised under this sub-category. Such crimes are religiously motivated and therefore are hate crimes. This case qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime on the basis that Rani Thakur, a Hindu Kinnar from Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, was subjected to a sustained and deliberate campaign of death threats, physical assault attempts, stalking, and intimidation by a group of Muslim individuals led by Kiran alias Kaleem Khan and his associates, following her decision to not convert to Islam. The sustained campaign of violence and coercion was part of a broader and organised effort by a Muslim group within the Kinnar community to force Hindu Kinnars from Hindu families to convert to Islam, reflecting a deliberate and premeditated predatory proselytisation operation directed specifically at vulnerable Hindu Kinnars. The Muslim group's sustained campaign of death threats, physical assault attempts, and stalking directed at Rani Thakur following her departure from the gharana reflected a deliberate and calculated strategy of using violence and the threat of lethal harm as instruments of religious coercion. Rani Thakur's departure from the gharana represented her assertion of her right to live freely and independently as a Hindu Kinnar outside the control of a Muslim-dominated household structure, and the Muslim group's immediate and sustained violent response to her departure reflected a premeditated determination to prevent Hindu Kinnars from exercising that right. The perpetrators' strategy of stopping Rani Thakur at different locations whenever she left her home and attempting to physically assault her reflected a deliberate and organised effort to create a state of total physical confinement and psychological terror, effectively imprisoning her within her own home through the sustained threat of lethal violence. The broader context of the case, in which Jagatguru Kajal Maa stated that a specific Muslim group within the Kinnar community was exerting sustained pressure on Hindu Kinnars from Hindu families to convert to Islam, confirmed that the violence and coercion directed at Rani Thakur was not an isolated personal dispute but part of a deliberate and organised predatory proselytisation operation targeting Hindu Kinnars specifically on the basis of their Hindu religious identity. The Kinnar community's traditional gharana structure, in which Kinnars live together in households under the authority of a guru, creates a particular vulnerability for Hindu Kinnars within Muslim-dominated gharanas, as the authority structure of the gharana can be exploited as an instrument of sustained religious coercion. The Muslim group's exploitation of the gharana structure to exert conversion pressure on Hindu Kinnars from Hindu families reflected a calculated and deliberate strategy of using an established community institution as a vehicle for predatory proselytisation directed at the most vulnerable members of the Hindu Kinnar community. The harassment directed at Rani Thakur and other Hindu Kinnars within the gharana was directly connected to their resistance to conversion pressure, with the sustained violence and threats intensifying following Rani Thakur's decision to leave the gharana rather than submit to the conversion demands being made of her. The fact that other Hindu Kinnars within the gharana also expressed their desire to leave and join Rani Thakur confirmed that the conversion pressure and associated harassment were not directed at Rani Thakur alone but at multiple Hindu Kinnars within the gharana, reflecting the scale and organised nature of the predatory proselytisation operation. The departure of multiple Hindu Kinnars from the gharana in response to the sustained conversion pressure and harassment reflected a direct and documented exodus of Hindu Kinnars driven by the Muslim group's organised campaign of religious coercion. The gravity of the threat faced by Rani Thakur was reflected in her explicit warning to the Superintendent of Police that her murder could take place at any time if prompt action was not taken. This warning, combined with her statement that the perpetrators were likely in possession of illegal weapons, reflected the extreme and life-threatening nature of the violence and coercion being directed at her specifically because of her resistance to the Muslim group's conversion demands. The filing of complaints with both the Sagar Superintendent of Police and the Bhopal administration confirmed the seriousness and well-documented nature of the predatory proselytisation operation being carried out against Hindu Kinnars in Sagar, and reflected the Hindu Kinnar community's recognition that the organised and sustained nature of the campaign required intervention at the highest levels of the state administration. Given that this case met the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it was added to the hate crime database of the tracker.