Hindu man brutally killed by his Muslim wife's family members over his interfaith marriage

Case ID : 30a7b2b | Location : Kanpur Dehat, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 14 October, 2025

Case ID : 30a7b2b

Kanpur Dehat, Uttar Pradesh, India

14 October, 2025

Hindu man brutally killed by his Muslim wife's family members over his interfaith marriage

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Killed by non-Hindu partner's family

Case Summary

In the Bhogpur Kotwali area of Kanpur Dehat, Uttar Pradesh, a 22-year-old Hindu man named Awadhesh alias Monu was brutally assaulted and killed by his Muslim wife's family members due to an interfaith marriage. According to reports, the victim, Awadhesh, had eloped with his neighbour Roshan, the daughter of Dilshad, who was a Muslim, and the two solemnised their marriage at a temple in Chennai on 15 October 2025. After the marriage, the couple resided together as husband and wife. Following their union, Roshan’s Muslim family actively searched for them, and in fear for their safety, Roshan recorded and released a video stating that her life was under threat from her own family and that they should be held responsible in case of any harm. Subsequently, after a complaint was filed by the woman’s family, the couple appeared at the police station, where Roshan affirmed that she was an adult and had married Awadhesh of her own free will. On 15 January 2026, while Awadhesh was alone at his residence, members of Roshan’s family arrived and subjected him to a severe physical assault. He sustained critical injuries during the attack and, while injured, disclosed the identities of those who had assaulted him to his family members. He was admitted to a private nursing home for treatment; however, he succumbed to his injuries during the course of his treatment. Police from the Bhogpur Kotwali station conducted a panchnama of the body and sent it for post-mortem examination, with further legal action to be determined on the basis of the findings.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Killed by non-Hindu partner or/and her family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced/pressured to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the family of the non-Hindu partner murders the victim. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman and her family start forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman’s family. The pressure could involve threats. The trigger to murdering the Hindu man in these cases is his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is murdered by the family of the non-Hindu woman simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the murder is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. This case is a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus, where the victim, a Hindu man, Awadhesh alias Monu, was violently assaulted and killed by his wife's Muslim family. The victim had eloped with Roshan, a Muslim woman, and the two solemnised their marriage. The marriage faced immediate opposition from the wife's Muslim family. The woman herself recorded a video stating that her life was under threat from her own family and held them responsible in case of any harm, clearly indicating the hostile environment surrounding the interfaith relationship. In this context, the Hindu victim was killed not because of any inappropriate behaviour or misconduct but exclusively due to the religious identities of the individuals involved. It must be emphasised that both the Hindu man and the Muslim woman were adults, free to make their own decisions; thus, the Muslim woman was in a relationship with the Hindu man out of her own free will. The sequence of events demonstrated that the violence was not incidental but occurred within the larger context of sustained opposition to the marriage. The victim was attacked when he was alone at his residence in the Bhogpur area of Kanpur Dehat, where members of the woman’s family arrived and subjected him to a brutal physical assault that ultimately led to his death during treatment. The targeted nature of the attack, combined with prior threats and the Muslim family’s continued hostility towards the relationship, established that the victim was singled out because of his position as a Hindu man married to a Muslim woman. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is deemed illegitimate if the non-Muslim partner does not convert to Islam. For those who practice the faith, when their daughter marries a Hindu man without the man converting to Islam, the difference in religions followed becomes the main point of disapproval for the family of the Muslim woman. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islam, even if the motivations are not explicit, it can reasonably be concluded as one of the determining factors of the attack committed by the Muslim family against the Hindu man. The persistence of threats, the woman’s own apprehension expressed through video evidence, and the eventual assault indicated that the interfaith nature of the marriage, combined with the victim’s Hindu identity, formed the central basis of hostility. This incident falls into a broader and disturbing pattern where Hindu men are targeted specifically for being in relationships with Muslim women. These assaults are often framed as matters of "honour," but the underlying motivation is deeply religious. In many such cases, the religious identity of the Hindu male partner, or his family, becomes the key trigger for violence, especially when there is no conversion to Islam. Although not every case explicitly states a religious motive, the surrounding circumstances, including prior opposition to the marriage, the involvement of the woman’s family, and the targeted killing of the Hindu spouse, indicate that religion was at least one of the determining factors. The pattern observed across similar incidents further reinforces this conclusion, where Hindu men are assaulted or killed for being in relationships with Muslim women without converting. The deliberate assault on the victim, the involvement of multiple members of the woman’s family, and the continuation of hostility despite the woman’s explicit assertion of consent collectively demonstrate that this was not a spontaneous altercation but a targeted act of violence. The victim’s Hindu identity and his marriage to a Muslim woman were central to the chain of events that led to his death. Such incidents form part of a broader pattern where Hindu men are targeted specifically for their religious identity in the context of relationships with Muslim women. The violence is not merely about familial disagreement but about enforcing religious boundaries through coercion and brutality. For these reasons, this case met the criteria for inclusion in the hate crime database, as the available details indicated that the violence was directed at the victim in the context of his religious identity and his interfaith marriage, making these factors integral to the offence. Disclaimer: Hinduphobia Tracker is accounting incidents against Hindus by non-Hindu perpetrators, and for this reason, we are keeping the victim count as one, including only Awadhesh. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. The earliest date mentioned is 15 October 2025, when the couple got married. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began and not when it was reported, we have considered the date of the incident as 15 October 2025, though the media reported the incident on 8 April 2026.