Hindu woman targeted for religious conversion by a Muslim man in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : 30aa410 | Location : Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 8 September, 2026

Case ID : 30aa410

Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India

8 September, 2026

Hindu woman targeted for religious conversion by a Muslim man in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Case Summary

In a village in the Budhana Kotwali area of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was targeted for forcible religious conversion by a Muslim man. The incident came to light after family members caught the Muslim man on the spot. They then informed Swami Yashveer Maharaj, the Peethadhishwar of Yog Sadhana Yashveer Ashram, Baghra, and the incident became a topic of discussion in the area. According to details shared by Swami Yashveer in a Facebook post, the Muslim man had entered the home of a Hindu Saini family with the intention of taking the woman away. Preparations had also been made to take her with him for religious conversion. After the family members caught him, they informed Swami Yashveer about what had happened. Swami Yashveer subsequently sought a police investigation and demanded strict action against the accused. In his post, he also emphasised the safety of Hindu families and the need for effective action in such cases. A video of the Muslim man being questioned was also circulated on social media and posted on Swami Yashveer’s Facebook wall. In the video, a member of the woman’s family was seen questioning the man, who identified himself as Mubarik and stated that he was also a resident of the same village. During the questioning, Mubarik himself admitted that he was attempting to force the woman into religious conversion and stated that he was associated with a conversion gang whose members were only Muslims. The incident raised questions about the woman’s prior acquaintance with Mubarik, the nature of their relationship, whether she was willing to leave with him, and whether he tried to lure her away.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected in this case is: Crime against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is: 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’ 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 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. This case was classified as a religiously motivated hate crime because a Hindu woman was specifically targeted for forced conversion to Islam by a Muslim man associated with a conversion gang. More importantly, the perpetrator himself confessed to being part of a conversion gang and stated that his objective was to convert the victim. His own admission therefore makes the religious motive explicit: the victim was targeted because she was Hindu, and conversion was the intended outcome of the crime. Targeting a Hindu woman for forced conversion directly interferes with her right to retain and practise her own faith. The objective was not simply to establish a personal relationship or exert control over her but to make her abandon her Hindu identity and adopt Islam. The coercive nature of the conduct made the victim's religion central to the offence, as the perpetrator's stated purpose was specifically to change it. The involvement of a conversion gang further demonstrates that the incident was not merely a private interpersonal dispute. The perpetrator's confession placed the targeting of Hindu women within an organised activity directed towards religious conversion. Since he expressly identified conversion of the victim as his motive, there is clear evidence that her Hindu identity was the basis on which she was selected and targeted. The attempt to forcibly replace the victim's Hindu identity with another religious identity also threatened more than her individual religious choice. Hindu faith is expressed through family traditions, festivals, rituals, customs, and community life. Forcing a Hindu woman to abandon that identity therefore disrupts her connection with her religious heritage and interferes with her ability to preserve and practise her faith according to her own choice. Such acts are carried out by Muslim perpetrators due to indoctrination by Islamic theology, which advocates that all non-Muslims (referred to as kafirs) are inferior and subject to subjugation unless they convert to Islam or live under Islamic rule (dhimmitude). These ideas are not mere abstractions; they manifest in actions where non-Muslims, especially Hindus in India, are seen as targets for religious domination, coercion, or humiliation. This theological framework fosters an "us versus them" mindset, in which any assertion of Hindu identity or religious freedom is seen not only as undesirable but as a threat to Islamic supremacy. As a result, perpetrators who are shaped by such teachings feel justified, even morally obligated, to harass, suppress, or violently attack Hindus, particularly when Hindus assert their religious rights or resist conversion. As a result, Muslim perpetrators invoke such doctrines to justify coercive attempts to convert non-Muslims, particularly Hindus, portraying conversion as a means of abandoning Kufr (a state of disbelief in Islam or disbelief in Islam) and attaining salvation. Such acts, therefore, are not isolated but driven by a broader ideological hostility towards Hindus as non-believers and reflect an attempt to impose religious dominance. Since this case was also not a random isolated incident of grooming of a minor but a premeditated attack motivated by bias and hatred against the Hindu community, which is a defining feature of hate crimes, this has been added to the tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. None of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date the incident occurred. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we recorded the date as when the incident was reported in the media: 8th September 2026.