Hindu actress pressured to abandon Hindu religious practices and convert to Islam by her Muslim partner
Mumbai Suburban, Maharashtra, India 
2 November, 2019
Case Summary
Hindu actress Himanshi Khurana was pressured to convert to Islam and compelled to quit Hindu religious practices during her relationship with a Muslim actor, Asim Riaz. Himanshi Khurana and Asim Riaz came into a relationship during their participation in Bigg Boss 13, which aired from September 2019 to February 2020. The couple remained together for approximately four years. On January 28, 2020, Asim publicly proposed marriage to Himanshi during Bigg Boss 13. According to Himanshi's later account, religious differences became an increasingly serious issue as the couple discussed their future together. Speaking to fellow Bigg Boss contestant Paras Chhabra on his podcast, released on 15 August 2026, she recounted that Asim Riaz repeatedly discussed Islam with her and eventually told her that she would no longer be able to follow her own religious practices. She said that he would explain the positive aspects of his religion to her, and the situation went worse with her being encouraged to understand and accept Islam. Himanshi specifically recalled being told that she would not be able to continue practices associated with her Hindu faith, including pooja paath. She said this created substantial mental pressure and forced her to consider what abandoning her religion would mean for her identity and future. At one point, Himanshi said she seriously contemplated giving up her religion. The thought was not limited to changing religious practices; she began considering how abandoning Hinduism would affect her connection with the Gods and beliefs with which she had grown up. She said that when she felt she might no longer be able to follow her religion, she decided to visit the Char Dham and other Hindu pilgrimage sites before making a final decision. Himanshi described the Char Dham pilgrimage as an emotional farewell to the Gods she had worshipped throughout her life. She said she felt that if she ultimately left her faith, she would no longer be able to visit or worship them in the same way, and therefore wanted to undertake the pilgrimage before converting to Islam. The conflict also extended to questions about death and funeral customs. Himanshi recalled asking herself whether, if she changed religions, she would ultimately be cremated or buried after death. The question, she said, arose subconsciously while she was trying to understand what abandoning her existing religious identity would actually mean for her life. After the pilgrimage and her spiritual introspection, Himanshi said she ultimately decided that she could not leave her faith. The religious conflict eventually became the publicly stated reason for the couple's separation. On December 6, 2023, after around four years together, Himanshi announced that she and Asim were no longer in a relationship. In her statement, she said that they were parting ways with respect for their respective religions. On December 7, 2023, Asim responded publicly and confirmed that religious beliefs were behind the separation. The matter resurfaced in August 2026, when Himanshi discussed the relationship and its religious conflict in greater personal detail on Paras Chhabra's podcast. Her revelations concerned the same relationship and the religious differences that had been publicly cited when the couple separated in December 2023.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the subcategory selected is: Forced conversion before marriage. 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, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert to his 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 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 pressuring 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 is added to the tracker because the Hindu Actress, Himanshi Khurana, was pressured by her Muslim partner to abandon her Hindu faith and give up religious practices such as pooja paath in favour of Islam. The pressure was directed specifically at her Hindu identity, which she considered inseparable from her personal and spiritual life. She was pressured to contemplate abandoning Hinduism if she wanted the relationship to continue. This was a deliberate attempt at religiously motivated pressure for conversion against Hindus. The religious dimension of the relationship was directly connected to pressure on a Hindu woman to abandon her faith and adopt Islam. The pressure on her did no concern a general disagreement between two people from different religious backgrounds; it specifically concerned whether Himanshi would retain her Hindu religious identity within the relationship. The continuation of Hindu religious practices such as pooja paath was presented as incompatible with the future she was expected to have with her partner, placing her Hindu identity under sustained pressure. It was an attack on her Hindu religious identity and personal choice in an attempt to erode her religious autonomy by making the continuation of the relationship conditional upon her conversion. 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. The religious dimension of the incident is further reinforced by the fact that Hindu religious practices were not merely peripheral customs for Himanshi but formed part of her established spiritual identity. By discouraging her from continuing pooja paath and making the abandonment of such practices part of the expectations surrounding their future together, Asim sought to weaken her connection with the religious practices through which she maintained her Hindu identity. Such pressure was intended to progressively distance her from her existing faith and make the prospect of adopting Islam easier to accept. The attempt to alter her religious practices was therefore not merely a disagreement over lifestyle or personal preferences; it functioned as a means of undermining her existing religious attachment and increasing her susceptibility to conversion. The purpose here was not emotional or personal but strategic. The ultimate goal is to alienate the victim from her Hindu faith and assimilate her into a different religious identity. This pattern stems from a supremacist interpretation of Abrahamic religious doctrine, where those who do not follow the same faith are viewed as inferior, impure, or needing to be corrected. In such a worldview, conversion is not an invitation, it is an obligation. The non-believer is not respected as different, but is dehumanised until they conform. This is why such cases must be recognised and documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The victims are not just exploited individuals; they are Hindus targeted for being Hindu. Disclaimer: The tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurred rather than when it was reported or published. In this case, the date of the incident is taken as 3 November 2019, as it is the date on which Himanshi Khurana entered Bigg Boss 13 and met Asim Riaz, and her relationship with him began developing publicly. This date has been recorded for documentation purposes only.
Case Status
Complaint not filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
