Hindu woman endures harassment and coercion for religious conversion by Muslim live in partner in Mira Bhayandar, Maharashtra

Case ID : 30a8b60 | Location : Bhayandar, Maharashtra, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 27 May, 2022

Case ID : 30a8b60

Bhayandar, Maharashtra, India

27 May, 2022

Hindu woman endures harassment and coercion for religious conversion by Muslim live in partner in Mira Bhayandar, Maharashtra

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Forced conversion before marriage

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

A Hindu woman from the Mira-Bhayandar area of Maharashtra was harassed, physically exploited, forced to have abortions, and pressured to convert to Islam by a Muslim man. The incident came to light after a complaint was filed by the Hindu woman against a Muslim man named Shabas Razzak Sheikh. Based on her complaint, Kashigaon Police registered a case and initiated an investigation. According to the complaint, the victim met Shabas Razzak Sheikh in 2022 while working at a private company in Malad. She stated that their friendship gradually developed into a relationship. The victim said that in 2023, the accused promised to marry her, gained her trust, and subsequently entered into a physical relationship with her. The victim further stated that she later began living with the accused in a rented house in the Mira Road area. During this period, she became pregnant twice. She stated that Shabas forced her to undergo abortions on both occasions. The victim also said that the accused repeatedly pressured her to convert to Islam and made religious conversion a precondition for marriage. According to the complaint, the pressure to abandon her Hindu faith continued throughout the relationship. The victim stated that despite assuring her of marriage, the accused repeatedly insisted that she accept Islam. She said that the demand for conversion remained a constant feature of the relationship. The complaint further stated that on 28 May 2026, the victim went to the accused's residence. She said that over eight members of Shabas Razzak Sheikh's family assaulted her there. The victim named the family members in her complaint and sought action against them for their involvement in the incident. Following the complaint, Kashigaon Police registered a case against Shabas Razzak Sheikh and his family members under various legal provisions. Police stated that an investigation was underway and that further action would be taken after the inquiry was completed.

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 sub-category selected is - Forced conversion before marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. 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, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. 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 to his religion and give up her religious identity. In both situations, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurising the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The other category selected in the 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 pressurising 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. This case qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime because the Hindu woman was subjected to pressure to abandon her faith and accept Islam as a precondition for marriage. Here, while the Muslim accused did not hide his identity, the nature of the relationship suggests that the Hindu woman was initially led to believe that her faith would not be a barrier to their romantic involvement. Trusting the accused's word, she entered the relationship, during which the Muslim man took advantage of her physically under the pretence of marriage. However, his true intentions were exposed when he began pressuring her to convert to Islam. The pressure to convert represented a denial of the victim's religious autonomy. Every individual has the right to enter into a relationship or marriage without being compelled to change their faith. In this case, the victim was not accepted as she was. Instead, her Hindu identity became an obstacle that had to be discarded before the relationship could progress further. This reflected a clear intolerance towards the victim's continued adherence to Hinduism. Further, the pressure was accompanied by coercive and abusive conduct, creating an environment in which the victim's refusal to convert attracted hostility and adverse consequences. The escalation of the matter demonstrated that the objective extended beyond the relationship itself and involved securing conformity with a specific religious identity. Such actions amounted to an attack on the victim's freedom of conscience and her right to retain her faith without fear of intimidation or repercussions. The involvement of the accused's family further aggravated the victim's ordeal. Rather than respecting her decision to remain Hindu, the hostility directed towards her reinforced the religious dimension of the abuse. When a Hindu woman faces intimidation, coercion, or violence after refusing to change her faith, the targeting cannot be viewed as merely interpersonal in nature. The victim's religious identity becomes the central point of conflict. This case also reflected a broader pattern in which Hindu women in relationships are subjected to pressure to abandon their faith as a condition for acceptance, marriage, or continuation of the relationship. Such conduct is discriminatory because it seeks to erase the victim's religious identity and replace it with another through coercion and pressure rather than free choice. The details of the instance make it obvious that the Hindu woman was targeted by virtue of her religious identity. She was thereafter pressured to relinquish her faith and subjected to hostility when she did not comply. Since the religious element was not incidental to the abuse but formed its central basis, this incident has been added to the tracker Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the victim's ordeal began rather than when it was reported in the media. In this case, the relationship commenced in 2022, and the victim's ordeal began during the course of that relationship. The earliest known year is 2022; however, the exact date when the conversion pressure began is not specified. Therefore, for documentation purposes, 28 May 2022 has been selected as the date of the incident, which has been derived by combining the earliest available year and the date on which the victim was assaulted by family members, 28 May, since this is the earliest date available as per sources.