Hindu couple coerced to convert by Muslim cleric under guise of treatment, mazar constructed in their house
Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
9 January, 2025
Case Summary
In Maudaha town, Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh, Maulana Nooruddin from Banda constructed a shrine (mazar) in the home of Urmila Verma, a Hindu woman suffering from a prolonged illness, claiming it would aid her recovery. The woman and her husband, Ajit Kumar Verma, accused the Maulana of attempting to convert their religion under the pretence of treatment. Ajit was coerced to change his name to Adil Khan. The Maulana, with his accomplices, started holding Qawwalis to convert more Hindus under the pretence of offering financial benefits and healing them of diseases. Upon being informed by neighbours, Hindu organisations and the police intervened, detaining four individuals, including Maulana Nooruddin. According to Additional Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Gupta, a case was registered against five individuals under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been to the tracker under the category of- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the first sub-category selected is- Conversion/attempts to convert by inducements. Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases therefore are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity forms the very heart of the crime itself. The second sub-category relevant here is- Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted would be documented in another sub-category. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. Here, a Muslim cleric converted a Hindu couple to Islam by offering a cure for the prolonged illness of the wife. He coerced them to construct a shrine (mazar) in their home claiming it would aid her recovery. The Maulana, with his accomplices, started holding Qawwalis to convert more Hindus under the pretence of offering financial benefits and healing them of diseases. Luring men or women from lower social classes with material temptations or using health crises, such as serious illnesses, to promote religious conversion exploits the vulnerabilities of individuals and their families during times of desperation. This is a classic tactic used by such perpetrators to force their victims to abandon their stated religion and accept a foreign one. Since the act of taking advantage of vulnerabilities to explicitly convert someone is motivated only by hatred against the victim's religion, this case has been added to the Hinduphobia tracker. Disclaimer: It is mentioned in the report, that the Muslim cleric and his associates converted many more Hindus apart from the Hindu couple under the pretence of offering financial benefits and healing them of diseases. However, since there is no clarity on the exact number of these individuals, we have conservatively added 2 as the victim counts in the database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 2
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 2
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
