Hindu girls and their family forced to convert to Islam by Muslim man and his mother
Yavatmal, Maharashtra, India 
3 March, 2025
Case Summary
In Yavatmal district, in Maharashtra, two Hindu girls and their families were forced to convert to Islam by a Muslim man named Danish Sheikh and his mother, Rehana Rafiq Sheikh. One woman was saved from the conspiracy hatched by the accused, but the other woman who fell victim to it went missing for four months. A Hindu widow lived with her three daughters and ran a small business of selling clothes to support the family. Danish Sheikh came to the Hindu widow mother's shop on the pretext of selling clothes. Danish Sheikh conspired to convert the elder daughter of the Hindu widow, but when the elder daughter did not fall into the conspiracy, he tried to trap the second daughter. Then Danish and his mother, Rehana Rafiq Sheikh, also forced the Hindu family to accept Islam by threatening to kill them. To escape this situation, the Hindu widow sent one of her daughters to Pune for a job. The daughter was on her way back to her home from Pune, but she went missing for four months.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Harassment, threat, 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. 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. The second sub-category selected here is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination and within this, the tertiary category chosen is- Pattern of targeting Hindus. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case is a religiously motivated hate crime as it involves systematic coercion, threats, and deception aimed at forcibly converting a vulnerable Hindu family to Islam. Danish Sheikh and his mother, Rehana Rafiq Sheikh, specifically targeted a Hindu widow and her daughters, exploiting their economic vulnerability and lack of social protection. When the elder daughter resisted their manipulative tactics, they shifted focus to the second daughter, proving a clear pattern of persistent targeting. The threats to kill the entire family unless they converted highlight the violent coercion employed by the accused. Such cases stem from deep-seated religious animosity the perpetrators harbour for the victim's faith, which is why this case qualifies as a hate crime against Hindus and has been documented here.
Victim Details
Total Victim
3
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 3
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 3
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 3
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
