Hindu woman forced to convert to Christianity by in-laws under death threats in Rajasthan
Banswara, Rajasthan, India 
7 January, 2025
Case Summary
In the Kushalgarh area of Banswara, Rajasthan, a Hindu woman named Rekha Mavi was forced to convert to Christianity by her in-laws. The victim married according to Hindu customs on 25 May 2023. But since then, her in-laws had been subjecting her to continuous mental and social pressure to convert. Rekha stated that her in-laws threatened to kill her entire family and burn down their house if she refused to convert. On 8 January 2025, they demanded ₹2 lakh and forced her to embrace Christianity. Deeply distressed, Rekha approached the police, filed a complaint, and sought protection. The police registered the case and have begun investigating and interrogating the accused.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The sub-category relevant in this case is- Forced conversion before marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man marries a Hindu woman, and the force/pressure to convert to 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 to Islam 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. The other sub-category selected is - Assault or threat upon refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu man. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. This case qualifies as a hate crime because a Hindu woman was pressured to convert to Christianity by her in-laws. After marriage, her non-Hindu in-laws began exerting continuous mental and social pressure to make her abandon Hinduism and adopt Christianity. The threats to kill her family and burn their house were aimed directly at compelling her to renounce her faith. This deliberate targeting of her religious identity after entering the marital relationship is consistent with the pattern of forced conversion cases, where the marriage is used as a means to control and erase the victim’s Hindu identity. Also, the threats of murder and arson were explicitly linked to Rekha’s refusal to convert. The demand for ₹2 lakh alongside the ultimatum to adopt Christianity shows the coercion was not only sustained but also escalated into extortion and life-threatening intimidation. The threats were religiously motivated, intended to punish her for maintaining her Hindu faith, and aimed at forcing compliance through fear. This direct targeting of a Hindu woman’s safety and that of her family, because she refused to change her religion, is a clear example of a hate crime against Hindus. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the woman's ordeal began, but it mentions that the accused demanded money on 8th January, 2025. Since this is the earliest date mentioned, we are considering this as when the victim's ordeal began and using this as the incident date. While media coverage of the incident emerged later, 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 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
