Case Summary

In Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was deceived into a relationship and marriage by a Muslim man named Shanu alias Shahrukh Khan, who pretended to be Hindu. According to reports, the Hindu woman came into contact with the accused, a resident of Bawankhedi village, in 2020. The accused pretended to be a Hindu and gradually deceived the victim into a relationship, after which the two got married at a Hindu temple in Chandigarh. After their marriage, they began living on rent in Sector 45 of Chandigarh, where the accused worked as a taxi driver. However, soon after the wedding, he stopped giving her money for household expenses and began harassing her both mentally and physically, assaulting her and pressuring her to convert to Islam. Furthermore, when the victim attempted to confront the accused, he said, “We marry Hindu women just to use them,” in an effort to humiliate her. On 5 October 2025, when the victim was travelling from Chandigarh to her in-laws’ home in Bawankhedi, Shahrukh attacked her near Gajraula station, leaving her severely injured. Following the incident, she lodged a complaint with the police, leading to the registration of a case against Shahrukh under relevant sections. Inspector-in-Charge Prempal Singh confirmed the registration of the FIR and stated that the investigation was ongoing. Later, the victim submitted a petition to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, stating that the accused had also forced her to convert to Islam.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category in this case is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The first subcategory under this is: Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary categories under this are: Name changed, marries as per Hindu rituals and Pattern of targeting Hindu women. 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. The other sub-category selected here 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was lured into a relationship and marriage by the Muslim accused, who pretended to be Hindu. Firstly, 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. Secondly, the Muslim accused married the victim as per Hindu customs inside a Hindu temple, to further mislead her into believing that he was a Hindu. The choice to marry her in a temple, a sacred space for Hindus, further highlights the malicious intent behind the act. This is a significant violation of the woman’s religious beliefs, as it exploits her faith and religious practices to entrap her in a marriage founded on lies. The use of a temple marriage serves to legitimise the union in the eyes of the woman and her community, making the deception all the more egregious. Thirdly, the accused tortured both mentally and physically, assaulting her and pressuring her to convert to Islam. In this case, violence was used as a tool to mentally subjugate the victim and pressure her into abandoning Hinduism and accepting Islam. Religious conversion under threat or duress is a direct attack on a person's religious freedom and identity, and in this case, was employed as a form of coercion against the Hindu victim. The demand for conversion was not incidental but a targeted and systematic attack on the victim and her faith. Fourth, in a further effort to humiliate her, the accused told her that “We marry Hindu women just to use them.” His statement explicitly reflects his animosity and contempt towards Hindu women as a group, revealing that the motive was rooted in religious prejudice rather than personal conflict. The attempt to coerce the victim into abandoning her faith, combined with physical assault and psychological abuse, shows a pattern of religiously motivated domination and degradation. Such conduct directly attacks the dignity, autonomy, and safety of an individual because of her religion, making it a clear instance of targeted hate and religious persecution. This deception 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 toward Hindus and their beliefs. This is why this case has been included in the tracker, as it exemplifies a clear instance of religiously motivated hate and exploitation. Such actions go beyond mere criminal behaviour; it is a calculated and malicious attack on her religious identity. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith, since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised until they convert. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of the incident based on when the crime occurred. The media reports published this case on 19 October 2025. However, the media reports do not specify the exact date of the beginning of the victim’s ordeal. The victim came in contact with the accused in 2020. Considering this piece of information, we are using an indicative date of 19 October 2020 as the date of the incident. This date is used for documentation purposes only and represents the estimated beginning of her ordeal.