Hindu woman physically assaulted and coerced to convert to Islam by her Muslim husband; forced to eat beef and wear burqa

Case ID : 30a826f | Location : Shirdi, Maharashtra, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 2 May, 2026

Case ID : 30a826f

Shirdi, Maharashtra, India

2 May, 2026

Hindu woman physically assaulted and coerced to convert to Islam by her Muslim husband; forced to eat beef and wear burqa

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Victim says she was brainwashed/groomed

Case Summary

In Shirdi of Ahilyanagar district, Maharashtra, a Hindu woman was harassed, physically assaulted and coerced to convert to Islam by her Muslim husband, Hamid Pathan. He also forced her to wear a burqa and eat beef against her wishes. According to reports, the victim, who had been working in marketing in the Sangamner area, came into contact with the accused, Hamid Pathan, during the course of her work. Their interaction developed into a relationship, following which they entered into a live-in arrangement. Over time, the relationship progressed further, with the accused conducting a court marriage and also marrying her as per Hindu rituals, presenting an appearance of acceptance of her faith and identity. The victim stated that after a brief period during which the relationship appeared stable, as the accused had initially allowed her to continue practising her religion. During this period, she moved in with the accused after disputes with her family over the relationship and also gave birth to a son. As time progressed, she was subjected to sustained physical violence and mental harassment. The accused pressured her to convert to Islam, declaring that she should not do a tilak, putting restrictions on her personal and religious expression. He also forced her to wear a burqa and eat beef against her will and discouraged her from moving freely outside. Eventually, the victim filed a police complaint, bringing the matter to official attention. Acting on the complaint, the Shirdi Police registered a case and took the accused into custody, initiating further investigation.

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 - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary category being - Victim says she was brainwashed/groomed. 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 is - Forced conversion after marriage, with the tertiary category being - Forced to wear hijab and Forced to eat beef. 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was harassed, physically assaulted and coerced to convert to Islam by her Muslim husband, Hamid Pathan. The accused lured the victim and married her as per Hindu rituals, presenting an appearance of acceptance of her faith and identity. The accused initially allowed her to continue practising her religion but began pressuring her to convert to Islam. In this case, the Muslim accused did not conceal his religious identity. Instead, he presented a facade of acceptance, leading the Hindu woman to believe that her faith would not be a barrier to their relationship. Based on this understanding, she entered into a romantic and physical relationship with him, trusting his repeated assurances of marriage. However, after marriage, the Hindu victim was coerced into discarding her faith and was compelled to convert to Islam. Forcing someone to renounce their religion lies at the heart of religious hatred. Such coercion is not a mere act of personal cruelty; it is an assault on the freedom of conscience and religious autonomy of the victim. It was not a matter of personal choice; it was coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity. This act revealed that the victim's Hindu identity was not accepted, and that the accused sought not only to dominate her but to erase her very existence as a Hindu woman. Such actions are a result of deep-seated religious animosity towards the Hindu community and Hinduism. Furthermore, the act of forcing the victim to eat beef was another manifestation of religious hostility. In Hinduism, the cow is highly revered, and its slaughter is considered a religious offence. Forcing a Hindu woman to consume beef is therefore not simply coercion, but an act of desecration, a direct affront to her values, faith, and culture. This was designed to humiliate her, to break her connection with her religion, and to discard the core of her Hindu identity. This action makes the religious motivation behind the crime very evident. The imposition of the burqa on the Hindu victim added another layer to this erasure of her Hindu identity. By forcing her to adopt it, the Muslim perpetrator attempted to strip her of her Hindu faith and impose foreign religious practices upon her. It was not merely about clothing: it symbolised the effort to overwrite her Hindu identity and forcibly assimilate her into practices of the Islamic faith. This again glaringly demonstrates the religiously motivated nature of the crime. Furthermore, the sustained physical assault and abuse inflicted on the Hindu victim formed a critical component of the coercion she endured. She was subjected to repeated violence and intimidation within the relationship, creating an environment of fear and control. This pattern of abuse did not exist in isolation but operated alongside the pressure to abandon her faith, reinforcing her vulnerability and limiting her ability to resist. The use of violence in conjunction with religious coercion indicates an effort to dominate and subjugate the victim, with her Hindu identity becoming a central point of control and suppression. 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 none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim came into contact with the accused. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media, 3 May 2026.