Hindu woman targeted through religious deception: Muslim man posed as "Sonu" to conceal identity and marry in Raipur, Chhattisgarh

Case ID : 30a9a74 | Location : Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 31 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a9a74

Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

31 July, 2026

Hindu woman targeted through religious deception: Muslim man posed as "Sonu" to conceal identity and marry in Raipur, Chhattisgarh

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Case Summary

In Raipur, Chhattisgarh, a Hindu woman was deceived and targeted for religious conversion by a Muslim man who feigned Hindu identity to trap her. According to her complaint at the Pandri Police Station, the Muslim man, Sufran Sheikh, concealed his religious identity by introducing himself as "Sonu," befriended her around six years ago, and later married her. She stated that she came to know about his real name only after the marriage. She further stated that she lived at his residence in Pandri with his grandmother and sisters for one year, during which she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. The woman further stated that Sufran Sheikh was subsequently sent to jail in connection with an attempted murder case, where he remained incarcerated for more than a year. She stated that after his release from jail, he kept their son with him and refused to return the child to her. She also stated that when she approached the police regarding the matter, she received death threats, following which she sought legal action at the Pandri Police Station. After information about the incident became public, a large number of Bajrang Dal workers, led by district president Yogesh Saini, reached the Pandri Police Station and demanded that an FIR be registered immediately and that Sufran Sheikh be arrested without delay. They also pressed for prompt legal action on the woman's complaint. On the other hand, Sufran Sheikh's family denied the woman's statements. They stated that they had accepted her as a member of their family and that after Sufran Sheikh was sent to jail, she herself visited an Aadhaar centre to change her name. The family requested that the matter be investigated impartially. The Pandri Police stated that they had initiated an investigation on the basis of the woman's complaint and the documents made available to them. Statements from both sides are being recorded, and further legal action will be taken based on the findings of the investigation. At the time, no official statement had been issued by senior police officials regarding the outcome of the inquiry.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category for this case is: Crime against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory for this case is: Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary category for this case 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 mala fide 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. In this incident, the perpetrator's deliberate concealment of his religious identity, where he pretended to be a Hindu under the guise of a Hindu name 'Sonu ', demonstrates a clear bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By hiding his true identity and presenting himself as a Hindu, he specifically targeted a Hindu woman under false pretences, indicating a premeditated effort to establish a relationship that would likely not have been possible had he disclosed his real identity from the beginning. The decision to assume a fake Hindu identity was not merely an act of personal deception but a calculated strategy to overcome the religious barrier that could have prevented the relationship from developing. By introducing himself as "Sonu" instead of Sufran Sheikh, he secured the victim's trust, entered into marriage with her, and built a family life under a false identity. This deprived the victim of her right to make an informed decision regarding one of the most important choices of her life: whom to marry, while concealing a fact that was fundamental to her autonomy and informed consent. Such identity concealment reflects a broader pattern in which Hindu women are specifically targeted through the use of false Hindu identities. The deception was central to the entire relationship, as it enabled the accused to gain access to the victim, marry her, and continue the relationship until his real identity came to light. The deliberate targeting of a Hindu woman through religious impersonation points to a bias against her religious identity and demonstrates a deeper disregard for the autonomy, dignity, and security of Hindu women. This overall shows that the victim was profiled and targeted because she was Hindu, making this a religiously motivated hate crime. The gravity of the incident was further aggravated by the events that followed the marriage. The woman lived with the accused and his family for about a year and gave birth to a son during this period. After the accused was imprisoned in an attempted murder case and was later released, he retained custody of the child and refused to return him to the mother, compelling her to approach the police. She also stated that she received death threats after seeking legal action. These developments demonstrate that the deception was not confined to the beginning of the relationship but was followed by continued coercion and control, further intensifying the harm suffered by the victim. It is also important to address a question that often arises in such cases: if the woman discovered that the accused had concealed his religious identity, why did she remain in the relationship for several years? Such questions overlook the realities faced by many women in abusive or deceptive marriages. Walking away from a marriage is rarely an immediate or straightforward decision, especially once a family has been established. Emotional attachment, financial dependence, fear of social stigma, pressure from family, uncertainty about rebuilding one's life, and concerns over the future and custody of children often leave women feeling trapped. Many continue to hope that the situation will improve or fear that leaving will expose them and their children to even greater hardship. The fact that a victim remained in the relationship for years, therefore, should not be interpreted as acceptance of the deception or as evidence that the initial fraud became irrelevant. Instead, it reflects the difficult personal, social, and economic realities that often prevent victims from leaving relationships founded on deception. Overall, the facts indicate that the accused's actions extended beyond ordinary personal deception and demonstrate conduct driven by deliberate religious concealment directed at a Hindu woman. By concealing his Muslim identity and assuming a Hindu identity to establish a relationship and marriage, the accused made the victim's religious identity central to the execution of the offence. Notably, 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. Accordingly, this case qualifies for inclusion in the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident date based on when the victim's ordeal began rather than when the incident was reported in the media. In this case, the victim stated that the accused concealed his identity and entered into a relationship with her approximately six years before the matter came to light, placing the beginning of the incident in 2020. However, as the exact date on which the deception and relationship commenced is not specified in the available sources, 31 July 2026, the date on which the incident was reported has been combined with the year 2020, when the ordeal of the victim began in the media, and accordingly 31 July, 2020 has been recorded as the incident date for documentation purposes.