Hindu woman found hanging after enduring prolonged abuse by married Muslim partner, family calls it a planned murder

Case ID : 30a921d | Location : Rajkot, Gujarat, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 23 June, 2026

Case ID : 30a921d

Rajkot, Gujarat, India

23 June, 2026

Hindu woman found hanging after enduring prolonged abuse by married Muslim partner, family calls it a planned murder

Undecided cases

Hindu woman ends up dead in a consensual relationship

Case Summary

In Rajkot, Gujarat, a 23-year-old Hindu woman and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, Nandini, was found hanging in a flat near Gondal Chowkadi. The family of the Hindu woman has rejected the possibility of suicide and accused her live-in partner, Aslam Hussain Sama, and his family of murdering her following prolonged physical and mental abuse. According to the victim's family, Nandini had been living with Aslam Hussain Sama, who was already married and had a child. The family stated that Aslam had lured Nandini into the relationship while she was working as a medical representative and later brought her from a paying guest accommodation in Junagadh to Rajkot. They said that after she moved in with him, he subjected her to continuous physical and psychological abuse. The family further stated that a day before her death, Nandini had gone to the house of Aslam's aunt in the Jangaleshwar area, where she was brutally assaulted. They said she sustained multiple injuries during the attack. Following the assault, Nandini sent a message to her younger sister stating that she had been beaten again and had decided to leave Aslam and begin a new life separately. She also shared a message on social media that read, "Papa, I have lost the battle of life." Alarmed by the messages, Nandini's father immediately asked relatives residing in Rajkot to visit her residence. When they reached her flat at Agam Residency on Vavadi Road, they found the door locked from the inside. After breaking the door open, they discovered Nandini hanging from a noose. The victim's family stated that Aslam was involved in the illegal liquor trade and other unlawful activities. They also accused members of his family of harassment. According to the victim's father and sister, Nandini had previously been attacked with a knife by Aslam's family members, following which a case was registered at Junagadh C Division Police Station against five individuals, including Aslam, his wife, mother-in-law, and father-in-law. The family further stated that disputes between the couple had intensified because Aslam's mother and sister repeatedly pressured him to return to his legally wedded wife. Whenever Nandini questioned him about this, Aslam reportedly assaulted her. The victim's relatives also stated that after Nandini began living with Aslam, he told her that he did not want children and compelled her to undergo surgery to remove her uterus, permanently depriving her of the ability to conceive. Following the recovery of Nandini's body, Aslam Hussain Sama absconded. Police launched a search operation to trace and arrest him. Meanwhile, the victim's body was sent for post-mortem examination as the investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death continued.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been placed in the Undecided Database because, although several aspects of the incident raise concerns that merit closer scrutiny, the investigation has not yet established whether the victim's death was connected to a religiously motivated offence. The victim's family stated that Nandini was drawn into a relationship with a married Muslim man who concealed the fact that he already had a wife and child. They further said that she was subjected to prolonged physical and psychological abuse, that members of the accused's family also participated in harassing her, and that she was brutally assaulted just a day before her death. Her messages to her sister expressing that she had been beaten again and intended to leave the relationship, coupled with her final social media post, and the accused's disappearance after her body was recovered, have strengthened the family's suspicion that she was murdered rather than having died by suicide. These circumstances inevitably raise questions because similar cases documented by the Hinduphobia Tracker have, in some instances, involved Hindu women being deceived into relationships by Muslim men, followed by sustained abuse, coercion, or attempts to alter their religious identity. The concealment of the accused's marital status, the prolonged pattern of abuse described by the family, and the events immediately preceding the victim's death therefore warrant careful examination to determine whether any element of religious targeting or coercion formed part of the offence. However, at the time of writing, no evidence has emerged establishing that the victim was pressured to convert to Islam, that her Hindu identity was a motivating factor behind the abuse, or that the circumstances surrounding her death were linked to religious hostility. While the family's allegations and the surrounding circumstances justify continued scrutiny, they are not, at present, sufficient to conclusively classify the incident as a religiously motivated hate crime. Accordingly, the case has been placed in the Undecided Database and will be reviewed if the ongoing investigation, forensic findings, witness testimony, or judicial proceedings establish evidence of a religious motive or coercive religious element.