Hindu woman deceived into marriage and pressured to convert by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Case ID : 30a9413 | Location : Siliguri, West Bengal, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 2 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a9413

Siliguri, West Bengal, India

2 July, 2026

Hindu woman deceived into marriage and pressured to convert by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Marries as per Hindu rituals

Forced conversion after marriage

Case Summary

A Hindu woman was deceived into marriage by a Muslim man who concealed his religious identity and presented himself as a Hindu. After the marriage, she discovered that the man who had introduced himself as Rahul was in fact Mohammad. When she questioned him about his deception, she was assaulted and subjected to pressure to abandon her Hindu faith and convert to Islam. The incident occurred in the Banganga area of Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The deception began when the Hindu woman travelled to Siliguri, West Bengal, for employment, where she came into contact with the Muslim man. What initially appeared to be an ordinary relationship later culminated in a marriage that she entered believing she was marrying a Hindu man. The Hindu woman, a resident of the Banganga area, travelled to Siliguri for work, where she met a man who introduced himself as Rahul. The two became acquainted during her stay in West Bengal. After she returned to Indore, the man also travelled there and continued the relationship while maintaining the false Hindu identity that he had presented from the outset. Relying on the identity he had assumed, the Muslim man married the Hindu woman without disclosing his actual name or religious identity. The marriage took place while she remained unaware that he was Mohammad. The concealment of his identity continued until after the marriage had already been solemnised. Some time after the marriage, the Hindu woman discovered that her husband's real name was Mohammad and that he had concealed his religious identity throughout their relationship. When she confronted him over the deception, he assaulted her. He also pressured her to convert to Islam, seeking to persuade her to abandon her Hindu faith after the marriage had already taken place. Following the assault and the pressure to convert, the Hindu woman approached Banganga Police Station and lodged a complaint detailing the incident. Police conducted a preliminary enquiry into the complaint and, after finding prima facie grounds, registered a First Information Report under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act. The Muslim perpetrator was arrested and taken into custody. Police initiated further interrogation to establish the circumstances surrounding the concealment of his identity and the events following the marriage. Officials stated that documentary evidence relating to his identity was being verified and that the investigation remained ongoing. Further legal action was to be taken on the basis of the evidence gathered during the investigation.

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 categories selected are - Name Changed, and Marries as per Hindu rituals. 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 - Forced conversion after marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man marries a Hindu woman, and the force/pressure to convert to any Abrahamic faith, like Islam, begins after marriage. 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. 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 man starts to pressure the woman to convert her religion after marriage. 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 situations, there is application of force by the perpetrator, including the denial of the woman’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the woman is forced/pressured to convert include force-feeding beef, being forced to read the Kalma, being forced to wear a hijab, forced to undergo Halala, etc. There are several instances where, after marriage, the woman 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. This case has been included in the tracker because it demonstrates a sustained pattern of religiously motivated deception, exploitation of Hindu religious identity, and coercion directed specifically at a Hindu woman. The sequence of conduct was not confined to concealment of personal identity but involved the deliberate adoption of a false Hindu identity, the misuse of Hindu religious customs to solemnise a marriage, and subsequent pressure on the victim to abandon her faith and convert to Islam. Each stage of the conduct was intrinsically connected to the victim's Hindu identity, demonstrating that religion formed the central basis of the targeting rather than being incidental to the relationship. The perpetrator's decision to present himself as "Rahul", a recognisably Hindu name, reflected a calculated effort to exploit the trust and familiarity associated with a shared religious identity. In India, names often signify an individual's religious and cultural background and frequently influence the level of trust placed in interpersonal relationships, particularly where marriage is concerned. By hiding his Muslim identity and assuming a Hindu identity, the perpetrator deliberately removed a barrier that may have influenced the Hindu woman's decision to enter the relationship. The deception was therefore not a simple concealment of personal information but a conscious strategy directed at a Hindu victim because of her religious identity. The deliberate choice to impersonate a Hindu demonstrates premeditation and reveals that the victim's Hindu faith was fundamental to the deception from its inception. The religious motivation became even more pronounced when the marriage was solemnised according to Hindu customs and rituals while the perpetrator continued to conceal his true identity. Hindu marriage ceremonies are among the most sacred rites within Hinduism, invoking divine blessings and establishing a lifelong spiritual bond through rituals that hold profound religious significance for Hindu families. Participation in these ceremonies while falsely presenting oneself as a Hindu amounted to the misuse of sacred religious traditions to reinforce a fabricated identity. Rather than respecting the sanctity of Hindu religious practices, the perpetrator used them as instruments to legitimise a deception directed at a Hindu woman. The marriage therefore represented not merely a personal fraud but the exploitation of Hindu religious institutions and rituals to facilitate access to a victim who believed she was marrying within her own faith. The religious hostility underlying the deception became unmistakable after the victim discovered the perpetrator's true identity. Instead of accepting her right to continue practising Hinduism, he subjected her to abuse and pressured her to convert to Islam. The demand that she abandon her Hindu faith transformed the earlier deception into an overt attempt to erase her religious identity. Freedom of religion includes the right to retain one's faith without coercion, and any attempt to compel an individual to renounce that faith strikes at the core of religious liberty and personal dignity. The abuse accompanying the pressure to convert further demonstrated that the coercion extended beyond persuasion and became a means of forcing compliance through intimidation and violence. The continuation of the marital relationship was thus made contingent upon the Hindu woman relinquishing her religious identity and accepting another faith. Viewed collectively, the assumption of a Hindu identity, the adoption of a Hindu name to gain the victim's confidence, the misuse of sacred Hindu marriage rituals to validate that fabricated identity, and the subsequent abuse and coercive pressure to convert reveal a continuous pattern of conduct rooted in the victim's Hindu identity. The Hindu woman's religion was neither incidental nor peripheral to the incident; it remained central to every stage of the deception, marriage, and subsequent coercion. The conduct demonstrates exploitation of Hindu religious trust, misuse of Hindu religious institutions, and sustained hostility towards the victim's decision to remain a Hindu, thereby establishing the religiously motivated nature of the offence. This incident is not an isolated case but part of a broader pattern where Hindu women are deliberately targeted through deception and emotional blackmail for religious conversion and sexual exploitation. This stems 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 predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents. Disclaimer: The exact date on which the initial contact between the Hindu woman and the Muslim perpetrator first began was not specified in the available sources. Therefore, 3rd July 2026, the publication date of the earliest available report, has been used as the indicative incident date in the tracker. This date was recorded solely for archival and documentation purposes only.