Hindu woman deceived and subjected to prolonged sexual exploitation by Muslim man posing as Hindu; boasts of targeting mulitple Hindu girls

Case ID : 30a9291 | Location : Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 4 June, 2024

Case ID : 30a9291

Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India

4 June, 2024

Hindu woman deceived and subjected to prolonged sexual exploitation by Muslim man posing as Hindu; boasts of targeting mulitple Hindu girls

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Case Summary

A Hindu woman of Saifai in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh was deceived and subjected to prolonged sexual exploitation by a Muslim man named Istayak Ansari, who posed as a Hindu man. According to the victim, she first came into contact with the Muslim accused, Istayak Ansari alias Raja, through Instagram around two years earlier, in 2024, after he followed her account and initiated conversations. During this time, he introduced himself as a Hindu man named Raja. Their online interaction gradually developed into a relationship during which he repeatedly assured her that he would marry her. She stated that she believed he was a Hindu Rajput until she later discovered that his real identity was that of a Muslim man named Istayak Ansari. She said the revelation left her shocked, as she realised that he had hidden his religious identity throughout the relationship. The victim further stated that, under the promise of marriage, Ansari sexually exploited her over an extended period, subjected her to emotional, mental and financial abuse, and secretly recorded objectionable videos and photographs of her. She said he subsequently used these recordings to blackmail her and force her to comply with his demands. She further revealed that the accused had also told her that he targeted and exploited Hindu girls before abandoning them. The victim, who belonged to a Thakur Hindu family, stated that after her family learnt about her relationship with a man from another community, her father refused to allow her to return home, leaving her socially isolated and mentally distressed. Seeking to recover the objectionable material, she visited Ansari's residence in Kararia village, Palamu district, Jharkhand, for the second time after an earlier visit on 5 June 2026. Upon reaching the house, she was made to remain outside throughout the night without food or water, while Ansari and his family assaulted her and took away her mobile phone and laptop. The following morning, she walked approximately six kilometres to the Mohammadganj police station, where she sought protection and submitted a written complaint seeking legal action. She expressed confidence that the police would ensure justice and take strict action against those involved. Meanwhile, Halima, the mother of Istayak Ansari, rejected the victim's version of events and claimed that the victim had visited their house twice, created a disturbance, and demanded ₹5 lakh to settle the matter. She further accused the victim of trapping her son in a relationship and claimed that she was harassing the family by demanding money in exchange for marriage. Mohammadganj Police Station Officer Narayan Soren stated that the woman had been given shelter at the police station and that, based on the initial information, the matter appeared to have originated from an Instagram relationship. He said that appropriate legal action would be taken after a detailed investigation into the woman's written complaint.

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 this, the sub-category selected is - Man pretends to be Hindu. Under this, the tertiary category selected is - Name Changed. 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was deceived and subjected to prolonged sexual exploitation by a Muslim man named Istayak Ansari, who posed as a Hindu man. The accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu girl. 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. In such instances, identity concealment is not merely a personal deception, but a calculated strategy rooted in religious targeting and profiling. The accused was aware that the victim, being Hindu, may not have consented to the relationship had she known his real identity from the outset. He therefore circumvented her ability to exercise informed choice by deliberately lying about his name and religious background. This demonstrated a premeditated effort to exploit the victim specifically on the basis of her religious identity. The subsequent blackmail through intimate photographs and videos, coupled with the physical assault when the victim attempted to recover the material and free herself from the abusive relationship, further strengthened the pattern of targeted victimisation that was rooted in religious hatred. These acts were not isolated offences but formed part of a continuing course of conduct that began with the concealment of the accused's religious identity and culminated in coercion, intimidation, and violence. The accused's statement that he targeted and abandoned Hindu girls lends additional context to the sequence of events, demonstrating that the abuse was directed at the victim not merely as an individual but also because of her Hindu identity. The use of compromising material to maintain control over the victim, followed by violence, reflected an effort to reinforce that control and prevent her from escaping the exploitation. Therefore, the blackmail and physical abuse were therefore not merely consequential acts of violence but formed part of the same pattern of conduct in which the victim's religious identity was central to her selection and continued victimisation. Taken together, the facts of this case demonstrated a pattern in which deception regarding religious identity was followed by prolonged sexual exploitation, psychological manipulation, blackmail through intimate material, and physical violence when the victim attempted to free herself from the situation. The concealment of identity was not an isolated misrepresentation but the foundation upon which the subsequent abuse was built, preventing her from making an informed decision at the outset of the relationship. The combination of identity fraud, coercive control, sexual exploitation, intimidation, and assault provided the basis for documenting this incident in the tracker as a case involving the targeting of a Hindu woman through deception rooted in religious animosity. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of the incident based on when the crime occurred. The media reports published this case on 26 June 2026. However, the media reports do not specify the exact date of the beginning of the victim’s ordeal. The victim came in contact with the accused in 2024, and on 5 June 2026, the accused physically assaulted her. Considering these two pieces of information, we are using an indicative date of 5 June 2024, as the date of the incident. This date is used for documentation purposes only and represents the estimated beginning of her ordeal.