Hindu woman deceived into marriage by Muslim man posing as Hindu, pressured to convert to Islam in Lucknow

Case ID : 30ab1fc | Location : Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 6 February, 2025

Case ID : 30ab1fc

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

6 February, 2025

Hindu woman deceived into marriage by Muslim man posing as Hindu, pressured to convert to Islam in Lucknow

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Marries as per Hindu rituals

Forced conversion after marriage

Case Summary

In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was deceived into marriage by a Muslim man who concealed his religious identity and posed as a Hindu. The accused married her according to Hindu customs and subsequently pressured her to convert to Islam. The accused, along with his family, had concealed their actual religious identities and furnished false personal, educational and professional details to deceive the woman's family and carry out the marriage under false pretences. The incident came to light when a complaint was filed by the victim's father, Dr Radheshyam, a resident of Indira Colony, Bakshi Khurd, Prayagraj. His daughter, Rajmadhavi, married a Muslim man who presented himself as a Hindu named Anirudh Kushwaha on 7 February 2025. The wedding took place at a garden in the Indira Nagar area of Lucknow, where the marriage ceremonies were performed according to Hindu customs. In the matrimonial profile, the groom had identified himself as the son of Anupam Kushwaha and Rajshree Kushwaha, residents of Buddha Vihar, Takrohi. After the marriage, documents came to light containing Muslim names and identities of the groom and his family. Dr Radheshyam stated in his complaint that the Muslim man and his family had concealed their actual identities and furnished false information about their educational qualifications and professional designations in the matrimonial profile. The family subsequently discovered that the groom had travelled abroad using passports bearing different religious identities, details that they had not known before the marriage. Following the discovery of his Muslim identity, Rajmadhavi was subjected to harassment and pressured to convert to Islam. The harassment continued after the wedding, and her health deteriorated. According to her father's complaint, she left her matrimonial home on 13 October 2026, leaving behind her dowry articles and the wedding car at her in-laws' residence. She returned to her parental home in a hired taxi and informed her family about the circumstances she had endured. Dr Radheshyam stated that he approached the police on 15 October 2026 and also sent a written complaint to senior police officials by post. However, no action followed at that time. He subsequently filed a case against his daughter's husband, mother-in-law and father-in-law, seeking police intervention and protection for his family. The father further stated that after he pursued the complaint, some unidentified individuals visited his residence and threatened to kill his entire family unless he withdrew the complaint. He also raised concerns about the possible misuse of a car registered in his daughter's name and sought police intervention in the matter.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected for 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, Marries as per Hindu rituals. 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 mala fide 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 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 could be under the Special Marriages Act, where neither parties are 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, 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. In this case, the Hindu woman was deceived into marriage by a Muslim man pretending to be Hindu. The accused, along with his family, concealed their religious identities and furnished false personal, educational and professional details to deceive the woman's family and facilitate the marriage. Following the marriage, the woman was harassed and pressured to convert to Islam. Firstly, the perpetrator's act of deception by posing as a Hindu itself demonstrated a clear disregard for the victim's religious identity and trust. By hiding his true identity, the Muslim man manipulated the Hindu woman's trust and targeted her under false pretences, indicating a deliberate effort to deceive her based on her religious background. Additionally, the marriage was solemnised according to Hindu customs, further reinforcing the false identity presented to the victim and her family. This constituted a direct violation of her right to make an informed choice about whom she chose to marry, as she remained unaware of the perpetrator's actual religious identity. Thus, the perpetrator's deliberate decision to conceal his religious identity strongly underscored the religious dimension of the crime. In such instances, identity concealment is not merely a deceptive tactic for personal reasons but a calculated strategy rooted in religious profiling and targeting. The accused was aware that the victim and her family might have made a different decision about the marriage had they known his actual identity, and he circumvented this through deliberate deception. The subsequent pressure on the victim to convert to Islam further highlighted the religious dimension of the deception. Such targeted victimisation based on religion demonstrated a disregard for the Hindu woman's religious beliefs and autonomy and reflected hostility towards her religious identity. This deception reflects 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 demonstrates a fundamental disregard for Hinduism but also exposes a deeper animosity toward Hindus and their beliefs. Furthermore, the victim was pressured to convert to Islam following the marriage, directly demonstrating the religious hostility underlying the incident. Pressuring a Hindu woman to abandon her faith and embrace another religion constitutes a violation of her religious autonomy and fundamental right to freedom of conscience. It reflects complete disregard for her Hindu identity and religious beliefs, treating her faith as something inferior that could be discarded through coercion. Such conduct exposes a mindset in which the victim's religious identity was considered inconsequential and could be overridden by force to achieve religious conversion. The fact that conversion followed a marriage facilitated through religious deception further indicates that the concealment of the perpetrator's identity from the outset was part of a process that ultimately sought to strip the victim of her Hindu faith. This makes the incident one of religiously motivated targeting and demonstrates clear hostility towards Hinduism. The involvement and support of the perpetrator's family, who also concealed their religious identities and furnished false personal, educational and professional details to facilitate the marriage, further aggravates the matter. Their collective involvement in deceiving the victim and her family, followed by the pressure exerted on her to convert to Islam after marriage, indicates that the incident was not merely an individual act of deception. Rather, it points towards a coordinated and premeditated effort to deceive a Hindu woman into marriage and subsequently undermine her religious identity. Such collective conduct further reinforces the religiously motivated nature of the incident and the hostility directed towards the victim's Hindu faith. Lastly, the threats directed at the woman's family after they approached the authorities added another layer of intimidation. The father stated that unidentified individuals threatened to kill the family unless he withdrew the complaint. Such threats undermine the family's ability to seek protection and pursue legal remedies. Overall, as the incident meets the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it is being included in the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the victim's ordeal began rather than when the incident was reported by the media. In this case, media reports published in October 2026 stated that the victim's ordeal began on 7 February 2025. Hence, the incident date has been recorded as 7 February 2025. In this case, although the victim was a resident of Prayagraj, her ordeal began in Lucknow, where the marriage took place. Hence, the place of the incident has been recorded as Lucknow.