Hindu man abducted and taken to mosque by Muslim wife's family; pressured to convert to Islam, eat beef and undergo circumcision

Case ID : 30a8f41 | Location : Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 11 June, 2026

Case ID : 30a8f41

Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, India

11 June, 2026

Hindu man abducted and taken to mosque by Muslim wife's family; pressured to convert to Islam, eat beef and undergo circumcision

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family

Forced to convert after marriage

Forced circumcision

Threatened to convert by family of partner

Assaulted for refusal to convert

Case Summary

In the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu man named Raja Tiwari was abducted, taken to a mosque and coerced into religious conversion by his Muslim wife's family, nearly nine years after his interfaith marriage with a Muslim girl. He was pressured to eat beef, undergo circumcision and was assaulted when he refused. According to the police complaint filed by his wife, Roshni, a Muslim woman who had married Raja Tiwari according to Hindu customs approximately nine years ago, in 2017, and had been living with him since. However, her relatives, who were Muslims, had never accepted the marriage and had remained hostile towards the couple throughout the years. The situation escalated on 12 June 2026, when several of Roshni's relatives, identified as Nabi Alam, Raunak, Nabi Sher, Shabbar, and others, intercepted Raja Tiwari and forcibly took him away. The complaint stated that Raja Tiwari was beaten with sticks, rods, and other objects and was subsequently taken to a mosque against his will. There, pressure was exerted upon him to abandon his Hindu faith and embrace Islam. He was compelled to offer namaz, and attempts were made to force him to consume beef and undergo circumcision as part of the conversion process. When Raja Tiwari resisted these demands, he was assaulted further and sustained injuries. Roshni attempted to intervene during the attack but was also beaten by the accused, resulting in injuries to her leg. The accused additionally threatened the couple with dire consequences, including death, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Following the incident, the injured couple approached the police and sought protection and legal action against those responsible. Based on Roshni's complaint, the police registered FIR No. 355/2026 on 13 June 2026 at Kotwali Police Station, Unnao, under Sections 115(2), 352, and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The couple underwent medical examination, and police initiated an investigation into the incident. Three of the named accused were taken into custody and questioned, while the involvement of other individuals remained under examination. The complainant also informed the police that a video of the incident existed, prompting investigators to verify its authenticity and assess whether additional charges were warranted. Police stated that further legal action would depend on the evidence gathered during the course of the investigation.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Attacked 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 to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the partner or/and her family attacks 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 or her family starts 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-Hindu 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 or her family. The force/pressure could involve threats. The trigger for directing violence against the Hindu man is in these cases 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 assaulted by the non-Hindu woman or her family 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 attack 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. The other sub-category selected is - Forced conversion after marriage, with the tertiary category of - Forced circumcision. In such cases, a non-Hindu woman marries a Hindu man and the force/pressure against the Hindu man to convert to Islam begins after marriage. In such cases, the marriage is consensual in most cases and often, there is no element of the non-Hindu woman hiding her religious identity. 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 woman starts to pressure the Hindu man to convert to Islam after marriage. In such cases, there is application of force/pressure by the perpetrator, including, denial of the man’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the man is forced/pressured to convert include forcing/pressurizing the man to involuntarily consume beef, pressurizing/forcing to read the Kalma, forced circumcision, forced to go to the mosque, etc. There are several instances where after marriage, the man 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 here is - Threatened to convert by family of partner. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man faces threats to convert and change his religious identity by the non-Hindu woman or her family. 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 or her family starts forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert to Islam and also assaults the victim to force him to convert. 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 man 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 man was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. The other sub-category selected here is - Assaulted for refusal to convert. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the Hindu man faces assault after he refuses to convert and change his religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu woman or her family. 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 or her family starts forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert to Islam and upon his refusal, assaults 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 man 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 man was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. This case has been added to the hate crime database because the Hindu victim, Raja Tiwari, was reportedly subjected to abduction, physical assault, religious coercion, and attempts at forced conversion by members of his Muslim wife's family. The incident was not a random act of violence or an ordinary domestic dispute. The coercive nature of the acts establishes a direct nexus between the harm inflicted upon the victim and his religious identity as a Hindu. A particularly significant aspect of the case is that the victim and his Muslim wife had been married for approximately nine years. The marriage was solemnised according to Hindu customs, and the couple had lived together for years. Additionally, the couple were adults and capable of making their own decisions and life choices. Despite this, Raja Tiwari was brutally assaulted, highlighting that the hostility was directed specifically at the victim for being Hindu. Such actions go far beyond personal outrage and reflect a deeper religious hostility. This demonstrates that the source of hostility was not merely opposition to the relationship itself, but dissatisfaction with the continued retention of his Hindu identity. The fact that conversion was sought years after the marriage underscores the central role that religion played in the conflict. The victim was forcibly taken to a mosque and pressured to convert to Islam. Pressuring a Hindu individual to discard his religious faith and embrace another was a direct attack on his religious identity and dignity. It was not a matter of personal choice; it was coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity. Such an attempt reflects religious animosity because the act was not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Furthermore, attempts were made to compel the Hindu victim to eat beef/cow meat. For many Hindus, the cow occupies a sacred position within religious and cultural life, and abstention from beef consumption forms an important aspect of religious practice and belief. Consequently, compelling a Hindu to consume beef against his will is not merely an act of physical coercion but can also constitute an assault on religious convictions and identity. Such actions have historically been associated with attempts to humiliate, degrade, or compel the abandonment of Hindu religious beliefs. In this case, the act acquired particular significance because it occurred in the context of efforts to force the victim to embrace another religion. Similarly, the victim was subjected to circumcision as part of the attempt to convert him. If carried out without free and informed consent, such an act represents a profound violation of bodily autonomy and personal liberty. Within this context, it formed part of a broader pattern of coercive measures employed to impose a religious Islam upon the Hindu victim against his wishes. Such an act carries profound implications because it involves a permanent alteration of the body linked to a religious objective. The significance therefore lies not merely in the physical act itself, but in its use as a mechanism for imposing a different religious identity upon an individual who continued to identify as Hindu. The violence inflicted upon the victim after he resisted the attempts to make him abandon his faith further highlights the religiously motivated nature of the incident. The assault was not an isolated act of aggression but formed part of a broader effort to overcome the victim's refusal to submit to religious coercion. The assault therefore served as a means of punishing the victim for maintaining his Hindu identity and refusing to comply with demands that sought to alter his religious beliefs. This direct link between resistance to conversion and the violence inflicted upon him reinforces the conclusion that religion was the central motivating factor behind the attack. 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 the Islamic faith, a marriage is considered invalid if a Muslim woman marries a non-Muslim man who does not convert to Islam. 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. Even if conversion is not directly demanded in every case, the death threats or violence are often aimed at punishing the Hindu man for not adhering to Islamic norms in the context of a relationship with a Muslim woman. It reflects a broader ecosystem of intolerance, where Hindu men are seen as transgressors for engaging in interfaith relationships or marriages with Muslim women. Raja Tiwari's assault was not incidental; it was deliberate and symbolic, aimed at enforcing religious boundaries through violence. For these reasons, the case is being added to the tracker as a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime against a Hindu individual. The targeting of Raja Tiwari was therefore inseparable from his Hindu identity and his refusal to abandon that identity. The abduction, physical coercion, religious pressure, forced consumption of a substance prohibited by his beliefs, and attempts to impose religious conversion collectively demonstrate hostility directed towards the victim on the basis of religion. For these reasons, the case has been included in the hate crime database under the categories of religiously motivated coercion, forced conversion, and violence targeting a Hindu individual because of his faith.