Hindu woman lured under pretext of curing illness, forced to convert, offer namaz and wear burqa by Muslim man

Case ID : 30a7ae0 | Location : Banas Kantha, Gujarat, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 6 April, 2024

Case ID : 30a7ae0

Banas Kantha, Gujarat, India

6 April, 2024

Hindu woman lured under pretext of curing illness, forced to convert, offer namaz and wear burqa by Muslim man

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Blackmailed to convert

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In the Palanpur city of Banaskantha district, Gujarat, a Hindu woman was lured under the pretext of curing illness, sexually exploited and pressured to convert to Islam by a Muslim man named Akhtarsha Fakir. The victim was forced to offer namaz, recite Kalma and wear a burqa. According to reports, the Hindu woman was frequently unwell and used to remain sick. During this time, the primary accused, Akhtarsha Fakir, who was a friend of the victim’s husband, contacted the victim and lured her under the pretext of curing her illness. Over time, he gradually gained her trust and cultivated a relationship of trust and intimacy with the victim. When the victim's husband became aware of the relationship, he distanced himself and abandoned her. Taking advantage of her isolation, the accused subjected her to repeated sexual assault while also recording obscene videos of her. These recordings were used to blackmail and threaten her, coercing her into continued sexual exploitation. Other accused individuals, Arif Fakir, Ilyas Fakir, Dilawarsha Juneja, and Sahil Fakir, also participated in the abuse, using threats of public humiliation and harm to force compliance. The situation escalated further when the woman was taken to a dargah in Unawa approximately two years prior to the complaint, in 2024, where she was intimidated into participating in Islamic religious practices. She was forced to offer namaz, made to wear a burqa, and compelled to recite the kalma. Even her name was changed to Aishabanu, essentially a Muslim name. The sustained pattern of abuse, blackmail, and coercion continued over a prolonged period until the victim eventually approached the authorities. A formal complaint was registered at Palanpur East Police Station against all five accused individuals, following which the police initiated legal proceedings and began an investigation into charges including rape, criminal intimidation, and forced religious conversion.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary category being - Rape and sexual harassment/assault. 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 - Blackmailed 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 second primary category selected here is - 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 a Hindu woman was targeted, sexually exploited, and subjected to coercion for religious conversion by a group of Muslim men led by Akhtarsha Fakir. The sequence of actions, from initial contact under the pretext of curing her illness to sustained sexual abuse, blackmail, and eventual forced religious practices, demonstrated a pattern that went beyond a personal crime and reflected targeted exploitation of a vulnerable Hindu woman. Firstly, the accused established contact with the victim by exploiting her medical vulnerability, offering help on the pretext of curing her illness. This initial deception enabled him to build trust and subsequently subject her to repeated sexual assault. During this period, obscene videos of the victim were recorded without her consent and used as tools of blackmail for further sexual exploitation. 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. The target was not the victim as an individual, but her Hindu identity, as the accused also pressured her to convert to Islam. 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. Secondly, the use of sexual violence and blackmail served 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. The repeated nature of abuse, combined with coercion for religious conversion, indicated a sustained pattern of control rather than an isolated act. Thirdly, the victim was pressured to abandon her religious identity and convert to Islam. She was taken to a shrine in Unawa, where she was compelled to offer namaz, recite the Kalma, and adopt practices associated with a different faith. 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. Fourth, she was also made to wear a burqa, perform namaz and recite kalma. The forced performance of religious rituals functioned as a form of psychological and spiritual pressure. Being compelled to participate in practices alien to her faith signalled an attempt to subordinate her existing beliefs and reshape her identity. It was done to normalise Islamic customs for her, so as to make her more susceptible to conversion. Fifth, even her name was changed to Aishabanu, essentially a Muslim name. The change of name and enforced adoption of a new religious identity carried symbolic significance. It reflected an attempt to erase the victim’s prior Hindu identity and replace it with one imposed under coercion. It was a symbolic assertion of Islamic identity over her previous Hindu 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: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, though it is mentioned that she was taken to a dargah in 2024. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date, 7 April 2024, as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 7 April 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.