Hindu woman deceived into marriage through Hindu rituals, forcibly converted to Islam and made to undergo nikah by Muslim man posing as Hindu
Delhi, India 
22 May, 2023
Case Summary
In Delhi, a Hindu woman was lured into a relationship and later married according to Hindu rituals by a Muslim man. The Muslim accused had concealed his religious identity and pretended to be Hindu by using a forged name. After the marriage, the accused made the woman pregnant and later forcibly converted her to Islam and made her undergo a nikah (Islamic marriage). This incident came to light when the victim filed a police complaint against the Muslim accused, identified as Arif, originally a resident of Etah, at the Awagarh Police Station in Uttar Pradesh. The victim stated that the accused had initially pretended to be a Hindu man named Aryan Yadav. According to the victim, she worked in a factory in Delhi where she met the accused, Arif, a resident of Mohalla Tawaifan in Awagarh town in Etah district. Arif concealed his identity and introduced himself as Aryan Yadav. Three years earlier, in 2023, they became friends and eventually married. The two married at the Neelam Temple in Preet Vihar, Delhi, according to all Hindu rituals. The victim stated that even after the marriage, the accused did not reveal his Muslim identity. After the marriage, he sexually exploited her and, as a result, she became pregnant. When she was four months pregnant, Arif told her that he was Muslim. The victim was shocked to hear this. The accused threatened to abandon the victim, forcing her to convert to Islam and marry him according to Islamic rituals through a nikah. Shortly thereafter, they had a daughter, who at the time of writing this report is 16 months old. The victim stated that after the birth of her daughter, Arif began physically and mentally abusing her. The woman said that Arif abused and assaulted her on a daily basis. He also pressured her to participate in Islamic religious activities. She further stated that when she refused, she was beaten severely. Following all this, the accused later divorced her. The victim stated that the accused and her brother-in-law together threatened her and forced her to sign the divorce papers by threatening to harm her daughter. After this, her daughter was also kept with them. Traumatised by this, the victim submitted a written complaint to the Awagarh Police Station, demanding strict action against the accused. She stated that the accused, Arif, son of Chhote Khan, was a resident of Mohalla Tawaifan in Awagarh town. The victim had previously filed a complaint in Delhi, but the Delhi Police dismissed the case. The police stated that the matter was being investigated on the basis of the complaint and that further action would be taken after the investigation.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary categories selected are: Name changed, Marries as per Hindu rituals. 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. The other subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or Groomed. The tertiary category selected 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 subcategory selected is- Forced conversion after marriage. The tertiary category selected is- Forced to do Nikah. 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 subcategory selected 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. In this case, the Hindu woman was deceived into a relationship and marriage by a Muslim man who posed as a Hindu and concealed his real identity behind the forged name “Aryan Yadav”. The accused married the victim according to Hindu rituals while deliberately hiding his Muslim identity from her. After the marriage, he sexually exploited the woman, forcibly converted her to Islam and made her undergo a nikah. All this clearly demonstrates the religious motivations behind the crime. Firstly, the perpetrator’s deliberate act of concealing his religious identity and pretending to be Hindu demonstrated a clear bias and malicious intent towards the victim’s religion. By falsely presenting himself as a Hindu man, the accused manipulated the trust of the Hindu woman and targeted her under false pretences, indicating a premeditated effort to exploit her specifically because of her religious background. The accused was aware that the victim, being Hindu, might not consent to the relationship or marriage had she known his true identity. He therefore circumvented her informed choice through deception, directly violating her right to make free and informed decisions regarding marriage and personal relationships. Such concealment of identity in order to target a Hindu woman reflected a calculated strategy rooted in religious profiling and coercion. This deception reflects a larger pattern where Hindu women are specifically singled out using false identities by Muslim men, often with coercion or conversion in mind. Such targeted victimisation based on religion not only demonstrates a fundamental disregard for Hinduism but also exposes a deeper animosity toward Hindus and their beliefs. The marriage itself was conducted according to Hindu rituals and customs, which further deepened the deception and violated the victim’s religious beliefs and sentiments. Hindu marriage rituals are considered sacred and spiritually significant within the Hindu community. By participating in these rituals under a fabricated Hindu identity and using them merely as a means to trap the victim into a fraudulent marital relationship, the accused reduced sacred Hindu traditions to instruments of manipulation and exploitation. This amounted to a serious violation of the sanctity of Hindu marriage customs and caused deep emotional and religious harm to the victim. The deliberate misuse of Hindu rituals in order to legitimise a deceptive marriage demonstrated a clear disregard towards Hindu religious practices and beliefs. Secondly, after securing the victim’s trust through deception and marriage, the accused sexually exploited her, resulting in her pregnancy. The victim consented to the relationship and marriage under the false belief that the accused was a Hindu man. Such consent, obtained through fraudulent concealment of identity and religion, was fundamentally compromised. The exploitation was therefore not merely personal in nature but was intrinsically tied to the accused’s deception regarding his religious identity. This was not a random act of sexual exploitation; it was a targeted assault driven by religious bias, aimed at singling out and violating a Hindu woman because of her religious identity. Such acts of exploitation by manipulation and religious profiling clearly underline the religiously motivated nature of this crime. Further, the timing of the accused's revealing his true religious identity to the victim is particularly significant. According to the victim, the accused disclosed that he was Muslim only when she was already four months pregnant. At that stage, the victim was in an especially vulnerable emotional, social, and physical condition due to her pregnancy and dependence upon the relationship created through deception. The fact that the accused chose this moment to reveal his identity and subsequently pressure her to convert to Islam demonstrated a calculated and predatory pattern of conduct. It indicated that the victim was deliberately placed in a vulnerable position where resisting the accused’s demands would become far more difficult. Such conduct reflected malicious intent and underscored that the deception was not incidental, but part of a broader attempt to trap and coerce the Hindu woman into religious conversion after securing control over her circumstances. Further, the victim stated that she was forcibly converted to Islam and was compelled to undergo a nikah after the accused revealed his real identity. Forcing or coercing an individual to abandon their own religion and adopt another faith constitutes a direct violation of their religious autonomy, freedom of conscience, and fundamental right to practise and profess the religion of their choice. In this case, the coercion to convert and undergo an Islamic marriage ceremony demonstrated that the victim’s Hindu identity was specifically targeted from the very beginning. The sequence of deception, fraudulent marriage under Hindu rituals, pregnancy, revelation of identity, and subsequent pressure to convert strongly indicated that the accused intended not merely to maintain a personal relationship, but to sever the victim from her existing religious identity and assimilate her into another faith through coercion and manipulation. Such actions carried a clear religious dimension and constituted a strong indicator of a religiously motivated hate crime. The victim further stated that she was regularly pressured and compelled to participate in Islamic religious practices. The forced imposition of religious customs upon a Hindu individual against their will represents a serious infringement upon their freedom of belief and personal dignity. In this case, the repeated pressure to perform Islamic practices reflected an attempt to erase or weaken the victim’s Hindu religious identity and disconnect her from her own faith and wider Hindu community. The coercive imposition of another religion’s practices upon the victim demonstrated hostility towards her existing beliefs and indicated that the accused sought to subordinate her religious identity through sustained pressure and control. Such conduct went beyond interpersonal abuse and demonstrated the character of targeted religious coercion, thereby reinforcing the hate-driven nature of the crime. The victim also stated that whenever she refused to perform Islamic customs or religious activities, she was brutally assaulted by the accused. The escalation from coercion to physical violence when the victim resisted religious imposition demonstrated deep-seated religious animosity on the part of the perpetrator. The assaults were not isolated acts of domestic violence detached from context; rather, they were directly linked to the victim’s refusal to abandon her own beliefs and comply with the religious demands imposed upon her. The accused’s willingness to use violence and intimidation in order to force compliance showcased an extreme and coercive determination to impose religious conformity upon the victim. Such brutality, specifically tied to religious coercion, highlighted the hate-driven character of the abuse and demonstrated that the perpetrator was prepared to cross all limits in pursuit of forced religious submission. Given that this case meets the parameters of a religiously driven offence, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the victim’s ordeal began rather than when the incident was reported in the media. In the present case, media reports regarding the incident surfaced on 23 May 2026. However, the exact date on which the victim’s ordeal began is not available in the public domain. The reports only indicate that the victim first met the accused in the year 2023. Therefore, in the absence of a precise date marking the beginning of the victim’s ordeal, 23 May 2023, has been selected as the indicative date of the incident for documentation purposes only. In this case, although Arif was the principal accused, the victim also stated that his father and brother participated in subjecting her to abuse, threats, and religious coercion. The victim stated that they were involved in intimidating her, forcing her to comply with religious demands, and threatening her in relation to the forced divorce and custody of her daughter. Accordingly, the perpetrator count has been recorded as three, referring to Arif, his father, and his brother.
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
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
