Hindu woman deceived into marriage by Christian man posing as Hindu, pressured to convert to Christianity along with her family, conversion network links surface

Case ID : 30aaebf | Location : Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 18 April, 2024

Case ID : 30aaebf

Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India

18 April, 2024

Hindu woman deceived into marriage by Christian man posing as Hindu, pressured to convert to Christianity along with her family, conversion network links surface

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Forced conversion after marriage

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Pattern of targeting Hindus

Case Summary

In the Baradari area of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was deceived into marrying a Christian man who had posed as a Hindu. The groom’s family disclosed their conversion to Christianity only after the marriage proposal had been finalised. They then insisted that the wedding be conducted according to Christian rites and, following the marriage, pressured the woman’s family to convert to Christianity. According to the complaint, Satish Chandra, a resident of Gangapur, told the police that his relative, Hanso Devi, who lives in the metropolis, had proposed marrying his son Mohit to his daughter, Shobhana, in 2024. The marriage was arranged, and they held a roka ceremony that cost 5 lakh rupees. However, a month before the wedding, Hanso Devi informed him that her family had converted to Christianity and asked the woman’s family to conduct the wedding according to Christian customs. By that time, the woman’s father had paid ₹5 lakh to the groom’s family. They were forced to agree, but then their in-laws began demanding dowry. They somehow managed to secure about ₹ 50 lakh and arranged the wedding on April 19, 2024, giving cash, a car, gold and silver jewellery, and household items. He stated that, under these circumstances, the wedding was conducted according to Christian rites. After the marriage, Hanso Devi and Mohit began demanding a Scorpio or Safari car or 25 lakh rupees. When her demands were not met, her husband Mohit, mother-in-law Hanso Devi, brother-in-law Rohit, sister-in-law Nishi and Aishwarya, brother-in-law Jacob, husband's aunt-in-law Mohini and uncle Mahendra started harassing her. The woman’s family subsequently learnt that Mohit and his relatives were associated with a religious conversion network that induced Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering inducements. The complaint also stated that the groom’s family pressured the woman’s family to convert to Christianity. Additional Superintendent of Police Shivam Ashutosh Singh stated that a preliminary inquiry had been conducted into the matter. He stated that the victim's family already knew of the conversion of the groom's family to Christianity. He further said the Family Counselling Centre had also tried to reach a settlement. A formal report was subsequently registered, and the police said they would investigate the allegations.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the selected subcategory is Man pretends to be Hindu. 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 malicious 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 subcategory selected in this case 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 may be under the Special Marriages Act, where neither party is 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, being 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. Another subcategory selected in this case is - Brainwashed and/or groomed. Under this, the tertiary categories selected are Family claims grooming and Pattern of targeting Hindus. 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 are crimes, 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 hate crimes. This case was included in the Hinduphobia Tracker because a Hindu woman and her family were drawn into a matrimonial arrangement in which the groom’s family’s Christian identity was disclosed only after the marriage had been arranged. After the marriage, the woman and her family faced pressure to convert to Christianity. The concealment and subsequent conversion pressure placed the family’s Hindu identity at the centre of the case. The timing of the disclosure was significant. Hanso Devi proposed her son, Mohit, as a match for the Hindu woman but disclosed the family’s Christian identity only after the marriage had been arranged. By concealing this information until the family had committed to the match, the groom’s family deprived them of the opportunity to make an informed decision. The subsequent insistence on Christian wedding rites further changed the religious terms of the marriage after the family had already committed to it. More importantly, the pressure to convert extended beyond the woman to her family. If the objective had been solely to establish a marriage, there would have been no justification for pressuring the Hindu family to abandon its faith. The groom’s family’s alleged connection to a network involved in inducing Hindus to convert to Christianity further exposed the religious dimension of the case. When considered alongside the concealment of their religious identity and the subsequent conversion pressure, this connection pointed to the use of the matrimonial arrangement to bring a Hindu family under pressure to convert. The issue was not simply a difference in religious customs but pressure directed at the family’s Hindu identity. The police stated that the groom’s family’s conversion had been known before the wedding and that rituals from both Hinduism and Christianity had been performed. However, performing rituals from two religions did not mean that the Hindu family had agreed to abandon its faith. Nor did it negate the complaint that the family faced pressure to convert after the marriage. Taken together, the concealment surrounding the marriage, the financial commitment that made it difficult for the family to withdraw, the subsequent pressure to convert and the alleged connection to a conversion network established the religious dimension of the case. The conduct went beyond an interfaith marriage and involved pressure on a Hindu woman and her family to abandon their religious identity. It is also important to address a question that often arises in such cases. Although the bride’s family proceeded with the wedding after learning of the groom’s family’s religious identity, this did not mean they had freely accepted the circumstances. It is also important to address a question that often arises in such cases: if the family discovered that the accused had concealed his religious identity, why did they still proceed with the marriage? Such questions overlook the realities. The family had already paid ₹5 lakh towards the marriage arrangement and were left in a difficult position. Having made a substantial financial commitment, the family proceeded with the marriage rather than abandon the arrangement. The other factor is the fear of social stigma. In Indian society, a wedding is often viewed not merely as a personal milestone but as a matter of family honour and social standing. Once a marriage proposal is finalised and preparations are underway, calling off the wedding can expose a family to uncomfortable questions, gossip, and speculation within the community. The bride may face particularly harsh scrutiny, with people questioning her future, blaming her or treating the broken marriage as a source of shame. Families can also feel pressured to avoid public embarrassment, especially when relatives and others have already been informed, and substantial arrangements have been made. In such circumstances, proceeding with a wedding despite serious reservations may be an attempt to contain the social fallout rather than an indication of genuine acceptance. The family’s decision, therefore, must be understood in the context of the financial commitment already made and the social pressure they may have faced, rather than treated as proof that they willingly accepted the concealment of the groom’s religious identity. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident date as when the victim’s ordeal began, not when the media reported it. The earliest date mentioned was the marriage on 19 April 2024; therefore, we selected that as the incident date. Disclaimer on victim count: The victim count has been kept at 2, comprising the Hindu woman who was deceived into the marriage and her father, whose complaint states that he and his family were pressured to convert to Christianity. Although other family members also faced conversion demands, the available account does not establish the exact number. Therefore, this case counts only the two directly identified individuals as victims.