Hindu woman hounded and pressure to convert to Islam, issued death threats and assaulted at home and workplace for refusal

Case ID : 30a8039 | Location : Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 24 April, 2026

Case ID : 30a8039

Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, India

24 April, 2026

Hindu woman hounded and pressure to convert to Islam, issued death threats and assaulted at home and workplace for refusal

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Forced conversion after marriage

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Case Summary

A Hindu woman in Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, was subjected to repeated assault and coercion to change her religion and accept Islam. The incidents occurred at her residence and also at her workplace, with the accused continuously hounding her and pressuring her to accede to his conversion demands. The Hindu woman was employed at a hospital in Barwani, Madhya Pradesh. She had been in a relationship with a Muslim man, identified as Aslam Khan, son of Shamsher Khan, a resident of Ward number 14, Silawad village, Tehsil Barwani, since 2016. During this period, they lived together and had a son. In 2024, following a dispute, they mutually separated. After the separation, the Hindu woman continued to reside separately and resumed her routine life and work. Following the separation, Aslam Khan continued to approach the Hindu woman at her residence and workplace. He repeatedly harassed her and attempted to exert pressure on her to convert to Islam. These interactions persisted despite the end of their relationship. On 19 April, 2026, Aslam Khan arrived at the Hindu woman’s residence in Barwani. He entered her premises and subjected her to verbal abuse and physical assault. During this incident, he issued threats to kill her and demanded that she convert to Islam. The assault took place within her home. On 24th April 2026, between 8 pm and 9 pm, Aslam Khan arrived at the hospital where the Hindu woman worked. He confronted her again and repeated his demand that she convert to Islam. During this confrontation, he threatened her life and engaged in aggressive behaviour. The incident extended into her workplace, affecting her professional environment. During the incident at the hospital, the Hindu woman contacted her acquaintances, Rahul Soni, Devanshu Soni, and Rahul Bhalse for assistance. When they arrived, Aslam Khan assaulted them as well and issued threats to kill them. The confrontation escalated in the presence of others, expanding the scope of violence beyond the Hindu woman to those supporting her. The Hindu woman stated that the relationship had been initiated in a manner that later involved pressure to change her religion. She expressed concern for her safety and for the safety of her son due to the continued threats and coercion. She sought intervention to prevent further harm. Following these incidents, the Hindu woman submitted a written complaint at the Kotwali Police Station in Barwani. Police acknowledged receipt of the complaint and initiated an investigation into the matter. Statements were recorded, and the situation was placed under examination. Community members, including individuals associated with a Hindu organisation, accompanied the Hindu woman to the police station and sought action. The investigation remained ongoing.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the subcategory selected is - Forced conversion after marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man marries a Hindu woman, and the force/pressure to convert to any Abrahamic faith, like Islam, begins after marriage. In such cases, typically, two patterns emerge. First, when the relationship is consensual, and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship. The marriage could be under the Special Marriages Act, where neither parties are required to convert their religion for the marriage to be considered legitimate. While the victim in such cases enters matrimony assuming that religious identity is not a barrier, the non-Hindu man starts to pressure the woman to convert her religion after marriage. The second is when the woman gets into a marriage with the man, pretending to share her faith. Later, when the truth is revealed, the man starts pressuring the woman to convert her religion and give up her religious identity. In both situations, there is application of force by the perpetrator, including the denial of the woman’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the woman is forced/pressured to convert include force-feeding beef, being forced to read the Kalma, being forced to wear a hijab, forced to undergo Halala, etc. There are several instances where, after marriage, the woman voluntarily converts to Islam. Such cases are often argued to be a result of religious brainwashing, however, for the purpose of documenting religiously motivated hate crimes, in the absence of the victim complaining of forced conversion, such cases do not form a part of the database. The other sub-category selected for this case 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. The other category selected here is- Attack not resulting in death. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. This case qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime because the Hindu woman in Barwani was targeted through sustained coercion, violence, and threats centred on forcing her to abandon her faith. The perpetrator, a Muslim man identified as Aslam Khan, repeatedly pressured her to convert to Islam during and after their relationship. The acts included physical assault, verbal abuse, and intimidation in both private and public spaces. Religion was central to the incident because the harm inflicted on the Hindu woman was directly tied to her refusal to change her religious identity. The primary religious marker was the sustained coercion aimed at religious conversion. The perpetrator maintained a relationship with the Hindu woman since 2016. The Hindu woman decided not only to live with him but also to start a family with him, assuming that their religious identities would not be a hindrance in their life. However, the Muslim man started applying pressure on the victim to convert to Islam and continued to approach her even after their separation in 2024. During this period and after the separation, he repeatedly pressured her to convert to Islam at her residence and workplace. For the Hindu woman, her religious identity was a core part of her personal and social existence. By persistently demanding conversion, the perpetrator targeted this identity directly. The repeated visits to her home and hospital show that the perpetrator deliberately chose spaces where she would feel vulnerable and unable to avoid confrontation. This demonstrates that he knowingly used proximity, familiarity, and access developed through the relationship to impose religious pressure. This choice reveals a clear intent to exploit the relationship as a means to alter the Hindu woman’s religious identity, indicating that the coercion was deliberate and directed at her because she was Hindu. The second religious marker was the Hindu woman’s own account that the relationship was orchestrated with the purpose of conversion. She stated that the perpetrator initiated and maintained the relationship in a manner that later involved pressure to convert to Islam. For the Hindu woman, this transforms the nature of the relationship from personal to instrumental, where her identity becomes the target. The belief that the relationship itself was used as a tool for religious conversion highlighted the depth of the perceived coercion. The perpetrator’s continued insistence on conversion even after the relationship ended showed that his objective extended beyond the relationship itself. This demonstrated that the Hindu woman’s religious identity remained the central point of focus. By maintaining pressure across different phases of the relationship, the perpetrator showed that the intent was not incidental but sustained and deliberate. This reveals that he chose to engage with her in a manner that would enable long-term influence and control, specifically to alter her religious identity because she was Hindu. The third religious marker was the use of violence and threats upon refusal to convert. On 19th April 2026, the perpetrator entered the Hindu woman’s residence, verbally abused her, physically assaulted her, and threatened to kill her while demanding that she convert to Islam. Her home is a space of safety and personal security, and by choosing this location, the perpetrator ensured maximum intimidation. On 24th April 2026, he repeated this behaviour at her workplace, again issuing threats and coercing her to convert. When she sought help, the perpetrator extended violence to her acquaintances, assaulting Rahul Soni, Devanshu Soni, and Rahul Bhalse and threatening to kill them as well. For the Hindu woman, these acts escalated the threat beyond herself to those around her, including concerns for her son’s safety. The deliberate use of physical violence, verbal abuse, and death threats shows that the perpetrator chose methods designed to break resistance and enforce compliance. This demonstrates a clear intent to compel conversion through fear and harm, specifically targeting her because of her Hindu identity and her refusal to abandon it. This incident was not an isolated act but part of a broader pattern where Hindu women are deliberately targeted within intimate relationships and subjected to sustained coercion to change their religion. This stems 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 predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents. Given that this case met the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it was added to the hate crime database of the tracker.