Hindu widow sexually exploited and blackmailed for religious conversion by Muslim man posing as Hindu; death threats issued upon refusal
Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India 
3 April, 2026
Case Summary
In the Madhoganj police station area of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, a 29-year-old Hindu widow was deceived, sexually exploited, and blackmailed for religious conversion by a Muslim man named Sameer Khan, who pretended to be Hindu. When she refused to convert, the accused threatened her and gave her death threats. According to reports, the victim, a mother of two whose husband had died of illness in 2023, was living with her parents when she came into contact with the accused, Sameer Khan. During this time, the accused presented himself as a Hindu man named Ravi Thakur, wearing Hindu attire, to gain her trust and befriended her within a short span. He also developed a relationship with her under the pretext of marriage. Exploiting her vulnerable circumstances, he repeatedly established physical relations with her while assuring her of a future together. During this period, he recorded multiple private photos and videos of their encounters without her consent. Later, when the victim discovered the accused's real identity, that his name was Sammer Khan and that he was a Muslim, she chose to end the relationship, upon which the accused began pressuring her to convert to Islam. After she firmly refused, he threatened her and issued threats to kill her, her children, and her sister. He also threatened to make her private videos and images viral on social media, which he later did, causing severe mental trauma. Distressed by the harassment and violation, the victim approached the police with the support of members of a Hindu organisation and filed a complaint. Acting on her statement, the police registered a case under charges including rape, criminal intimidation, and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act, and arrested the accused from his residence. Authorities initiated further legal proceedings to remand him to judicial custody.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category for this case is "Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes". The sub-category here for this case is "Man pretends to be Hindu". The tertiary categories are "Name changed" and "Wears symbols of Hinduism." When a non-Hindu man pretends to be a Hindu to deceive a Hindu woman into a relationship, the act is seen as triggered by malafide intentions. In some cases, the woman eventually accepts the man’s original religious identity and converts after the man’s identity is revealed. These cases could be argued as cases of religious brainwashing and a result of the pressure a woman feels after getting into a relationship with a man. The woman, it can be argued, also changed her religious identity because of the stigma she believes she might face if she chooses to walk out of a deceptive relationship. However, for the purpose of documenting hate crimes, the cases in this subcategory are limited to those where there is explicit violence aimed at religious conversion against the wishes of the victim (force-feeding beef, blackmailing with intimate videos, rape on refusal to convert, etc), or if the woman herself complains of the man’s religious deception. In such cases, it is established that the deception of the non-Hindu man had a specific aim of religious conversion or targeting of the victim due to her Hindu religious identity, therefore, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. Another sub-category for this case is "Brainwashed and/or groomed". The tertiary category here is "Rape and sexual assault/harassment. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. The other sub-category selected here is - Blackmail to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The other sub-category selected here is - Assault or threat upon refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu man. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. This case has been added to the tracker because the Hindu widow was deceived, sexually exploited, and blackmailed for religious conversion by a Muslim named Sameer Khan, who pretended to be Hindu. Firstly, the accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu woman. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and "ensnare" a Hindu individual is not just an act of personal betrayal but can also be interpreted as an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs that reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. Secondly, the accused sexually exploited her and recorded obscene videos of her. These exploitations were not random acts of crime; rather, they functioned as religiously motivated tools aimed at humiliating and dominating a Hindu girl because of her faith, as he also pressured her to convert to Islam. The target was not the victim as an individual, but her Hindu identity. The specific focus on her Hindu identity in the commission of these acts highlights the religious hatred underlying the crime, making it a religiously motivated offence. Thirdly, when the accused's real identity was revealed, he attempted to force the Hindu victim to renounce her religion and 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. Often in such cases, sexual violence, blackmail or death 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 can be converted. This was not random violence; it was systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. Fourth, the case demonstrated a clear pattern of threats and intimidation when the Hindu victim resisted the pressure to convert. Upon her refusal to embrace Islam, the accused escalated his coercion by issuing death threats against her, her children, and her sister, while also using blackmail in the form of threatening to circulate her private videos and images on social media. This deliberate use of fear and reputational harm as tools of control showed that the coercion was not incidental but directly tied to enforcing religious submission. The sequence of events made it evident that the exploitation intensified in response to her refusal to abandon her faith, indicating that these actions did not occur in isolation but were a direct consequence of her resistance. The violence and intimidation were thus rooted in hostility towards her Hindu identity and functioned both as punishment for non-compliance and as a calculated attempt to break her will and force conformity, underscoring the religiously coercive nature of the abuse. 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 records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the accused deceived the victim. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media, 4 April 2026.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
