Hindu employee subjected to sustained harassment by Muslim colleague to convert to Islam; pressured to recite Kalma, eat meat and participate in Islamic practices

Case ID : 30a9dfc | Location : Delhi, Delhi, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 13 August, 2026

Case ID : 30a9dfc

Delhi, Delhi, India

13 August, 2026

Hindu employee subjected to sustained harassment by Muslim colleague to convert to Islam; pressured to recite Kalma, eat meat and participate in Islamic practices

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Attack on Hindu religious representations

Defiling religious customs

Case Summary

In the Delhi-NCR region, a Hindu woman employee, working at a private company, was subjected to sustained workplace harassment and pressure to convert to Islam by her Muslim colleague and his wife. The victim was pressured to recite the Kalma and eat meat. According to reports, the Hindu employee filed an online complaint with the police detailing her ordeal. It was revealed that the victim was subjected to sustained harassment in an effort to convert her to Islam. She was coerced into conversion by her Muslim colleague, who was working on behalf of a Dawah group, an Islamic fundamentalist group. The pressure began during Ramzan and intensified as Eid approached, with the target being to convert her to Islam before Eid. During this period, the victim was pressured to recite the Kalma, eat meat on Juma and perform prayers in an Islamic manner. She was also pressured to participate in religious activities and practices associated with Islam. Furthermore, the accused's wife remained in regular contact with her and also pressured her to engage in such religious practices. The stated objective was to convert the victim to Islam before Eid, while photographs were sought as evidence of the ongoing conversion process and were intended to be shared with group funders as proof of their activities. The workplace religious meetings were also used to pressure non-Muslim employees to recite the Kalma and consume meat as part of the religious practices being promoted. Although the victim chose to keep her identity private and did not speak publicly about the matter, she submitted an online complaint and indicated that she would pursue a formal investigation. At the time of the report, police were expected to take up the matter after registration of a formal First Information Report.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory selected is- Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The other primary category selected here is - Attack on Hindu religious representations. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Defiling religious customs. Sanatan Dharma is not a religion of one book, which is to say that while it has religious scriptures that form the central tenets of the faith, there are several traditions followed through thousands of years, mostly passed from generation to generation orally. There are several such customs and traditions that are followed by various Hindus and Hindu sects. Defiling of these traditions and customs is a breach of an individual or group’s religious practices. Such practices can range from dietary restrictions like not eating non-vegetarian food for a certain period of the year, not eating non-vegetarian food at all, not eating beef since the cow is considered holy in Hinduism, the sanctity of religious customs followed in the house (like many ISCKON devotees), etc. Any malicious action leading to the breach of such traditions or defilement of these traditions owing to animosity towards the faith or for the sake of activism stems not only from the lack of faith in the religion itself but also from disregard for the faith of the devotees who follow the customs/traditions and implicit bias against the faith, the tradition itself. Since these specific traditions are central to the faith of the devotees of that specific sect of Hindus, any non-compliance with these traditional rules would be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. In this incident, a Hindu woman was targeted for religious conversion by her Muslim colleague on account of her religious identity. The pressure was sustained over a period of time, creating a hostile environment centred specifically on changing the victim's religion. The focus on converting a Hindu woman to Islam before Eid demonstrated that her religious identity was central to the harassment and indicated clear religiously motivated hostility. The nature of the pressure went beyond verbal persuasion and extended to attempts to make the Hindu victim participate in Islamic religious practices. Pressure to recite the Kalma and perform prayers in an Islamic manner directly interfered with her ability to practise her own faith freely. Such demands went beyond a mere discussion or expression of religious beliefs and sought to influence her personal religious conduct by encouraging her to adopt Islamic practices despite her Hindu identity. In the context of the broader pressure to convert her to Islam, these demands demonstrated that the harassment was directed not only at persuading her to change her religion but also at altering her religious practices and identity. The pressure also extended to food, with the Hindu victim being pressured to consume meat on Juma (Friday). For many Hindus, the consumption of meat carries profound religious significance. It is not merely a dietary preference but a matter of faith, identity, and deeply held religious conviction. Forcing meat upon the Hindu woman against her will was an act of religious desecration, a deliberate assault on the most intimate expression of her Hindu identity. It was not done carelessly. It was done to humiliate, to violate, and to signal that her Hindu identity was no longer hers to protect. In the context of the broader conversion pressure, the use of religious practices and dietary demands demonstrated an attempt to impose Islamic practices on her despite her Hindu identity. This reinforced the religious nature of the harassment rather than indicating an ordinary workplace dispute. The repeated exposure to Islamic religious practices served as a means of making the Hindu victim more susceptible to conversion. By pressuring her to recite the Kalma, perform Islamic prayers, consume meat on Juma and participate in other Islamic religious activities, the accused sought to familiarise and involve her in practices outside her own faith. Thus, the use of religious practices alongside direct conversion pressure demonstrated a broader strategy of religious influence rather than a single instance of religious persuasion. The organised nature of the incident was further indicated by the specific objective of converting the victim to Islam before Eid and the request for photographic evidence documenting the progress of the conversion, which was intended to be shared with group funders. These details demonstrated that the pressure was not limited to an isolated interpersonal interaction between coworkers but was connected to a broader effort to convert Hindu employees to Islam. Taken together, these circumstances indicated a sustained and potentially coordinated pattern of religious pressure and coercion directed at the Hindu employee. 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. Such cases are not isolated incidents, but reflect a recurring pattern of Hindu employees, particularly women, being targeted for religious conversion within workplaces. The TCS Nashik case similarly involved multiple Hindu employees who revealed sustained religious coercion, sexual harassment, intimidation and pressure to adopt Islamic practices, including offering namaz and consuming beef. Several victims also stated that derogatory remarks against Hindu deities and attempts to influence them towards Islam. The involvement of multiple Muslim employees, including those in positions of authority, and the filing of multiple First Information Reports exposed a wider pattern of coordinated religious targeting within the workplace. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurred, not when the media reports it. In this case, media reports did not state the exact date when the incident began, only that the religious pressure began during Ramzan. Hence, 14 August 2026, when the matter came to light, has been used as the indicative incident date. This recording exists for documentation purposes only.