Hindu woman threatened for forced religious conversion and nikah by Muslim man in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : 30a941f | Location : Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 2 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a941f

Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

2 July, 2026

Hindu woman threatened for forced religious conversion and nikah by Muslim man in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Forced conversion before marriage

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

In Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was pressured for religious conversion and nikah by a Muslim man named Abdul Rehman. According to reports, the accused, Abdul Rehman, was pressuring the Hindu woman to convert to Islam, forcing her to undergo nikah with him. The victim also filed a complaint, and a case (No. 175/2026) was already registered against Abdul Rehman at Gangoh police station. Despite the registration of the case, the accused continued to contact the victim, pressuring her to withdraw the complaint. She stated that whenever she refused, he threatened to kill her and her family. The victim further stated that Abdul Rehman threatened to circulate her sexually explicit photographs and videos on social media in an attempt to intimidate and mentally harass her, pressuring her for conversion, leaving her and her family living in fear. She also stated that he came to her house carrying a sharp-edged weapon, threatened her with serious consequences, and fled the scene. The entire incident was captured on the CCTV camera installed at her residence, and she preserved the footage to submit it to the investigating authorities. The victim requested action against the accused under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, sought strict legal action in the already registered case, and appealed for police protection for herself and her family. At the time of reporting, the police stated that further action would be taken after examining the complaint and the available evidence, including the CCTV footage.

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 - Forced conversion before marriage, with the tertiary category of - Forced to do nikah. 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 it involved coercive attempts to compel the victim to abandon her existing faith and convert to Islam by the Muslim accused, accompanied by threats, intimidation, and pressure to marry the accused. In Islam, marriage to a non-Muslim partner is prohibited, which is why she was pressured for religious conversion and nikah. Pressuring 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. Furthermore, the victim's refusal to convert to Islam was met with escalating threats and intimidation, revealing that the coercion was not limited to persuasion but was reinforced through fear and violence when she chose to retain her existing faith. Rather than respecting her decision, the accused responded with death threats, threats to circulate sexually explicit material, and other acts of intimidation. The escalation following her refusal to convert proves that the hostility was directed at her resistance to religious conversion, demonstrating that the threats were rooted in religious animosity towards her existing religious identity rather than arising solely from a personal disagreement. Moreover, the intimidation continued even after the victim sought legal recourse. Instead of allowing the legal process to take its course, the accused persisted in pressuring her to withdraw the case while continuing to demand that she convert to Islam and undergo nikah, and even went to her residence to threaten her. The continuation of coercive conduct reinforces the inference that the objective extended beyond avoiding criminal liability. The retaliation for seeking justice, coupled with the continued insistence on religious conversion, reflects a sustained attempt to compel compliance through fear and intimidation, indicating that the hostility remained rooted in the victim's refusal to abandon her faith. The combination of pressure to convert, threats of violence, blackmail, and intimidation demonstrates that the victim's refusal to accept religious conversion was met with sustained coercion. 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. These acts were not merely personal crimes; they were rooted in a desire to dominate and erase the religious identity of the victim. Such conduct targets an individual's religious identity by seeking to erase or replace it through force, fear, and psychological pressure. 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: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim was pressured for conversion. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media, 3 July 2026.