Hindu woman deceived into marriage and religious conversion by Muslim man faking Hindu identity

Case ID : 30a97a6 | Location : Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 15 July, 2020

Case ID : 30a97a6

Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India

15 July, 2020

Hindu woman deceived into marriage and religious conversion by Muslim man faking Hindu identity

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Forced conversion after marriage

Case Summary

In Dhampur, Bijnor district, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was deceived into marriage and religious conversion by a Muslim man named Subhan Ahmed, who concealed his religious identity and pretended to be Hindu. He later divorced her through triple talaq and abandoned her. According to the complaint, the Hindu woman, originally named Shivani Verma, lost her parents in childhood and was raised by relatives. While working as a domestic helper, she came into contact with the accused, who introduced himself as a Hindu man named "Bhura", leading her to believe that he was a Hindu. The accused lured her into a relationship, and they entered into a court marriage in 2020. The woman stated that she discovered after the marriage that her husband's real name was Subhan Ahmed (also referred to as Subhan) and that he was a Muslim. Despite learning his true identity, she continued with the marriage in an effort to preserve her family. Following this, she converted to Islam, changed her name to Shabana Ansari, and began living with him in Dhampur. The couple had three children together. She further stated that about a month before filing the complaint, her husband's family abused her and later sent him to Mumbai. Subsequently, he pronounced triple talaq over the phone, following which she and her children were expelled from the matrimonial home. Seeking justice, the woman approached the Dhampur police and submitted a written complaint. The police initiated an investigation, summoned the accused for questioning, and stated that legal action would be taken based on the findings of the inquiry. Some reports further stated that the accused was later arrested and sent to jail. The woman also received support from members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, who accompanied her to the police station and demanded action in the matter.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected in this case is: Crimes against women in relationship or other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is: Man pretends to be Hindu, with the tertiary category being - 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. The other sub-category selected here - Brainwashed and/or groomed. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a 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. A key aspect of this case is the fact that the accused concealed his religious identity before entering into a relationship and marriage with the Hindu woman. The perpetrator deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu woman. 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. The case also acquires a religious dimension because the complainant was originally a Hindu woman who later became known as Shabana Ansari after embracing Islam following the marriage. The marriage itself was founded on deception, as the accused concealed his true religious identity and introduced himself by a different name, leading her to believe that he was a Hindu. Her subsequent conversion to Islam and change of name occurred in the context of a marital relationship whose very foundation was based on misrepresentation. In that sense, the victim's conversion to Islam was not made with full knowledge of the material facts surrounding her husband's identity, making the deception central to understanding the religious dimension of the case. Another significant aspect of the case is that after several years of marriage and the birth of three children, the accused pronounced triple talaq over the phone and the woman was subsequently expelled from the matrimonial home along with her children. The subsequent abandonment of the woman after she had embraced Islam further reveals that the marriage served purposes beyond a genuine marital relationship. Viewed in conjunction with the concealment of identity at the inception of the relationship, this further proves that the accused's real goal was the conversion of the Hindu woman rather than securing a genuine relationship. 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. Such acts were not merely personal crimes; they were rooted in a desire to dominate and erase the religious identity of the victim. 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: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, though it is mentioned that she married the accused in 2020. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date, 16 July 2020, as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 16 July 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.