Hindu woman deceived and subjected to prolonged sexual exploitation by Muslim man feigning Hindu identity
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
27 October, 2020
Case Summary
In Kakadev, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was subjected to prolonged sexual exploitation under the pretext of marriage by a Muslim man named Bilal Salmani, who befriended her by pretending to be a Hindu man. According to the complaint filed by the woman, she first came into contact with Bilal on Facebook approximately six years earlier, in 2020. During this time, the accused concealed his religious identity and posed as a Hindu man named Sameer, after which he established a relationship with her on the pretext of marriage. He continued to have sexual relations with her for six years without marrying her During this period, Bilal repeatedly demanded money from the woman and, whenever she refused to give him money, beat her and threatened to kill her. The woman later discovered that his real name was Bilal Salmani and that he was originally from Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh. Bilal had been living in a rented house in Kanpur. Distressed by his conduct, the woman approached the Kakadev police station and lodged a complaint against him. The police registered a case against Bilal Salmani alias Sameer on charges including sexual exploitation on the pretext of marriage, extortion, intentional insult and criminal intimidation. Action was also taken against him under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. A police team led by Kakadev station in-charge Dharmendra Kumar Ram arrested Bilal on 27 October 2026. He was subsequently produced before a court and sent to jail.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The first 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was deceived and befriended by a Muslim man, who pretended to be Hindu. The perpetrator deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu woman. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and "ensnare" a Hindu individual is not just an act of personal betrayal but can also be interpreted as an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs that reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. 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 perpetrator 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 pointed to a religiously driven intent. This deception reflected a larger pattern where Hindu women are specifically singled out using false identities by Muslim men, often with coercion or conversion in mind. Such targeted victimisation based on religion not only demonstrated a fundamental disregard for Hinduism but also exposed a deeper animosity toward Hindus and their beliefs. The prolonged sexual exploitation of the Hindu woman also carried a clear religious dimension because the accused had concealed his Muslim identity and pretended to be Hindu in his interactions with her. The sexual exploitation therefore took place within a relationship established under a deliberately false religious identity and a false pretext of marriage. By presenting himself as a Hindu, the accused gained access to the victim and was able to exploit her trust over an extended period. The prolonged nature of the exploitation, when combined with the deliberate religious deception used to gain her trust, indicates that the abuse was rooted in religious animosity and the targeted exploitation of a Hindu woman through manipulation of her religious identity. Therefore, since this case meets the parameters of a religiously driven crime, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, though it is mentioned that she came into contact with the accused in 2020. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date, 28 October 2020, as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 28 October 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 1
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
