Hindu woman deceived into relationship by muslim man pretending to be Hindu in Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Case ID : 30aaf2c | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 18 October, 2026

Case ID : 30aaf2c

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

18 October, 2026

Hindu woman deceived into relationship by muslim man pretending to be Hindu in Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Case Summary

In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a Hindu woman was deceived into a relationship by a Muslim man, Anas Khan, who concealed his religious identity and introduced himself as “Rohit”, a Hindu name, while befriending her through social media. The woman discovered his identity after they developed a friendship, which led to a confrontation. Anas Khan, son of Nishu Khan, was a resident of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, while the woman came from a village in Sri Ganganagar district, Rajasthan. After divorcing her husband, she moved to the Gaurinagar area of Indore, where she lived with her sister and pursued a beauty parlour course. After connecting through the online application, the two began speaking over the phone. In the evening of 19 October 2026, Anas travelled from Ghaziabad to Indore to meet the woman. According to Praveen Darekar, a Bajrang Dal departmental coordinator, the organisation received information that the two were near the Marriott Hotel in Indore, walking around outside and looking for a room. Darekar instructed local Bajrang Dal workers to look into the matter. The workers reached the location, questioned the pair, and took them to the police station, where they handed Anas over to the police. After discovering that Anas had concealed his identity and introduced himself as Rohit, the woman confronted him and assaulted him. Bajrang Dal members also assaulted Anas before handing him over to the police. A video of the incident later circulated on social media, showing Anas appearing to confess to his actions. The police took action against Anas under the relevant legal provisions and continued investigating the matter.

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: Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary category selected 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 malafide 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 case, a Hindu woman was deceived into a relationship by a Muslim man, Anas Khan, who concealed his religious identity by using the Hindu name “Rohit”. After gaining her trust through this deception, he travelled to Indore, Madhya Pradesh, to meet her, where she confronted him after discovering his true identity. Firstly, the perpetrator's act of deception by posing as a Hindu itself demonstrates a clear bias and malicious intent towards the victim’s religion. By hiding his true identity, the Muslim man manipulated the Hindu girl's trust and targeted her under false pretences, indicating a premeditated effort to exploit the girl based on her religious background. This constituted a direct violation of her right to informed consent regarding whom she chooses to interact with, as well as an infringement upon her religious beliefs. Thus, the perpetrator’s deliberate decision to hide his religious identity strongly underscores the religious motive behind this crime. In such instances, identity concealment is not just a deceptive tactic for personal reasons but a calculated strategy rooted in religious profiling and targeting. The accused was aware that the victim, being Hindu, would likely refuse his advances if she knew his real identity, and he circumvented this by lying, which directly points to a religiously driven intent. This deception also reflects a larger pattern where Hindu women are specifically singled out using false identities, often with coercion or conversion in mind. Such targeted victimisation based on religion not only demonstrates a fundamental disregard for Hinduism but also exposes a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. The use of the Hindu name “Rohit” by Anas Khan to conceal his Muslim identity while establishing an online friendship with a Hindu woman constituted the central religious marker of deception in this case. The woman’s trust was formed on the basis of the identity he presented, and her subsequent discovery of his actual religious identity led her to view the relationship as deceptive. This conduct was significant because Hindu identity was used as a means of gaining the confidence of a Hindu woman, while the concealment of his Muslim identity deprived her of information she considered important when deciding whether to pursue the relationship. Such conduct is an affront to her personal autonomy, religious identity and right to make informed decisions about intimate relationships. The use of a Hindu name in this context also carried religious significance because it placed a marker of Hindu identity at the centre of the deception, turning the difference between the identities into the basis of the woman’s sense of betrayal. The incident therefore raised concerns about the exploitation of religious trust and the importance of transparency in interfaith relationships. Overall, since this case met important parameters of a religiously motivated crime, it is being added to the hate crime database of the tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. The media reports did not specify the exact date when Anas Khan and the Hindu woman first met online. Therefore, for documentation purposes, the date has been recorded as 19 October 2026, when the incident came to light following their meeting in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.