Hindu woman lured into marriage and deceptively converted to Islam by Muslim man posing as Hindu; made to offer namaz and consume meat

Case ID : 30a9089 | Location : Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 18 June, 2016

Case ID : 30a9089

Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

18 June, 2016

Hindu woman lured into marriage and deceptively converted to Islam by Muslim man posing as Hindu; made to offer namaz and consume meat

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Pattern of targeting Hindu women

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Victim says she was brainwashed/groomed

Forced conversion before marriage

Case Summary

A Hindu woman from Greater Noida was lured into a relationship, financially exploited, and deceptively converted to Islam by a Muslim man who introduced himself as a Hindu man. According to the police complaint, the victim, Rajbala Singh, had previously been associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), met a Muslim man in 2016 who introduced himself as a Hindu man, Rajiv Baliyan. As their relationship progressed, he proposed marriage and persuaded her to convert to Islam before the wedding, claiming that Hinduism did not permit a second marriage. Trusting his representation, she travelled to Kaliyar Sharif in Roorkee in January 2017, where a marriage ceremony was conducted. During the ceremony, the man used the name Ashfaq, while Rajbala was identified as Noorjahan. After the marriage, Rajbala discovered that the man’s real name was Ashfaq and that he was already married with five children, including three sons and two daughters. She stated that this information had been deliberately concealed from her throughout the relationship. She further informed police that Ashfaq did not permanently take her into his household and that she learned about his existing family only after visiting his residence in Morna, Muzaffarnagar. According to the complaint, members of the family were aware of the arrangement and introduced her within the household as the children’s mother. Rajbala also stated that after the conversion and marriage, she was compelled to follow Islamic religious practices, including offering namaz, observing fasts, and consuming meat. The complaint further stated that Ashfaq obtained approximately ₹30 lakh from her on the pretext of constructing a house. She later discovered his true identity when election campaign posters displayed his real name during a village head election. When she sought the return of her money, it was not repaid. The financial losses and resulting debt reportedly forced her to sell her flat in Noida. Rajbala also informed police that Ashfaq maintained a public image intended to attract the trust of Hindu women, including displaying photographs with Hindu saints on social media and using the photograph of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as his WhatsApp profile picture. Following her complaint, Bhopa Police Station in Muzaffarnagar registered an FIR against five individuals, namely Ashfaq alias Rajiv Baliyan, Ayesha, Khushboo, Majid, and Faizan. Police initiated an investigation into allegations relating to identity concealment, religious conversion, marriage obtained through deception, and financial exploitation.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Man pretends to Hindu, with the tertiary category being - Name changed and Pattern of targeting Hindu woman. 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 sub-category selected here 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 here is - Forced conversion after 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 her religion and give up her religious identity. In both the 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 pressurizing 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. This case has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker because the Hindu victim was deliberately targeted through the concealment of the accused's religious identity, followed by deception, religious conversion, and sustained exploitation. Firstly, the accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu woman. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and "ensnare" a Hindu individual is not just an act of personal betrayal but can also be interpreted as an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs that reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. Secondly, after gaining the victim's confidence by concealing his Muslim identity and presenting himself as a Hindu, the accused persuaded her to convert to Islam before marriage by falsely claiming that Hinduism did not permit a second marriage. The victim relied on these representations and travelled to Kaliyar Sharif, where she was converted to Islam and married under Islamic names. The conversion was therefore rooted in deception rather than an informed and voluntary religious decision. The victim's consent was obtained through the concealment of the accused's true religious identity as well as misleading assertions regarding Hindu religious practices, depriving her of the opportunity to make a fully informed choice about both her marriage and her faith. Furthermore, the concealment of an existing spouse and family by the accused is significant because it proves that the victim's decisions regarding both marriage and religious conversion were made without knowledge of information that would have directly influenced her consent. The deception, therefore, extended beyond identity concealment to the broader circumstances surrounding the relationship itself. Thirdly, following the marriage, the victim was further compelled to abandon her previous religious practices and instead follow Islamic customs, including offering namaz, observing Islamic fasts, and consuming meat. Compelling a Hindu individual to discard her religious faith and embrace another was a direct attack on her 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. Fourth, after the conversion and marriage, the accused compelled her to offer namaz and observe Islamic fasts. These demonstrate that the conversion was not limited to a formal religious ceremony but was allegedly followed by sustained pressure to abandon her previous Hindu religious identity and conform to Islamic beliefs and practices. Requiring the victim to participate in Islamic rituals and observe religious obligations indicates that the objective extended beyond the marriage itself to ensuring her continued adherence to Islam. alleged imposition of Islamic religious practices is significant because it reinforces the nexus between the initial deception, the conversion, and the subsequent conduct of the accused. Similarly, the force-feeding of meat to the victim was not a domestic dispute or a cultural misunderstanding. For a Hindu woman, the consumption of meat carries profound religious significance. It is not merely a dietary preference but a matter of faith, identity, and deeply held religious conviction. Forcing meat upon her against her will was an act of religious desecration, a deliberate assault on the most intimate expression of her Hindu identity. It was not done carelessly. It was done to humiliate, to violate, and to signal that her Hindu identity was no longer hers to protect. Fifth, another factor supporting this classification is the accused deliberately cultivated a public image designed to inspire confidence among Hindu women by displaying photographs with Hindu saints on social media and using the photograph of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister as his WhatsApp profile picture. These representations were intended to create the impression that he belonged to, or was closely identified with, the Hindu community, thereby lowering suspicion and making it easier to establish relationships with Hindu women. This conduct is significant because it proves that the concealment of his religious identity was not an isolated act confined to the victim but formed part of a broader pattern of behaviour allegedly aimed at gaining the trust of Hindu women through deceptive representations. The accused carefully cultivated public persona functioned as a tool to facilitate the targeting of Hindu women, reinforcing the conclusion that the victim's religious identity was central to the alleged deception and subsequent exploitation. Taken together, the deception, conversion, and subsequent exploitation are all directly connected to the victim's Hindu identity and the concealment of the accused's religious identity. 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: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, though it is mentioned that she came into contact with the accused in 2016. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date, 19 June 2017, as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 19 June 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.