Hindu man strangled to death by Muslim wife's family over interfaith marriage in Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : 30a940b | Location : Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 1 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a940b

Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

1 July, 2026

Hindu man strangled to death by Muslim wife's family over interfaith marriage in Uttar Pradesh

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family

Killed by non-Hindu partner's family

Case Summary

A Hindu man was murdered after visiting his Muslim wife's family in Firozabad district, Uttar Pradesh, following his interfaith marriage. He was assaulted and strangled inside his in-laws' house after a confrontation. The attack followed months of opposition to his marriage to the Muslim woman. Four months before the incident, Devesh alias Dauji, a Hindu man from Khanda village in the Barhan police station area of Agra district, married Bholi, a Muslim woman and daughter of Hussain Mohammad, who lived near Chhaparia Bilal Mosque in the Ramgarh police station area of Firozabad district. The two met in Agra and developed a relationship before solemnising their marriage at a Hindu temple in Gurugram. Following the marriage, Bholi began living with Devesh. The marriage was opposed by Bholi's brother, Sameer alias Attu. His opposition continued after the couple married and remained together for approximately four months. On 2nd July 2026, Devesh travelled with his wife to her parental home in the Chhaparia locality under the Ramgarh police station area. The visit marked his first time visiting his in-laws after the marriage. During the visit, a dispute broke out between Devesh and Sameer. Soon afterwards, Sameer, along with his associate Saif, son of Noor Ahmed, and other members of the woman's family, assaulted the Hindu man. They physically attacked him before wrapping a dupatta around his neck and strangling him to death inside the house. Following the murder, Devesh's body was recovered and sent for post mortem examination. His family reached the mortuary later that night after being informed of his death. On the complaint of Devesh's uncle, Ramgarh Police registered a case under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including murder. Joint police teams were formed to trace those involved in the killing. On 3rd July 2026, police located Sameer alias Attu in the Hasmatnagar Gaddha area. During the operation, he attempted to flee and opened fire on the police team. Police retaliated in self defence, shooting him in the leg before taking him into custody. An illegal .315 bore pistol, two empty cartridges, and one live cartridge were recovered from his possession. Five individuals connected with the murder were arrested and remanded to jail. Police continued searching for another named perpetrator who remained absconding. Additional police personnel were deployed in the area to maintain law and order, while the investigation into the murder remained ongoing.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the category of- Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within this, 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. Another sub-category selected for this case is - Killed by non-Hindu partner’s family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced/pressured to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the family of the non-Hindu partner murders 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 and her family start 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-Muslim 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’s family. The pressure could involve threats. The trigger to murdering the Hindu man in these cases is 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 murdered by the family of the non-Hindu woman 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 murder 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 first component which makes it worthy of being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime is that the family of his Muslim partner killed a Hindu man for being in a relationship with her. In this case, the relationship was consensual, and the man and woman were together, fully aware of each other’s identities. However, in the Islamic faith, a marriage is deemed illegitimate if the non-Muslim partner does not convert to Islam. For those who practice the faith, when their daughter marries a Hindu man without the man converting to Islam, the difference in religions followed becomes the main point of disapproval for the family of the Muslim woman. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islam, the perpetrator family believes that such interfaith relationships diminish the family’s ‘honour’. In this case, also, the inherent animosity for the Hindu religion prompted the family of the Muslim girl to go to the extent of killing the Hindu man, making this case worthy of being documented in the tracker.