Hindu girl sexually exploited under false promise of Nikah; later harassed for dowry, given triple talaq and thrown out of the house

Case ID : 90a09bc | Location : Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 19 February, 2025

Case ID : 90a09bc

Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India

19 February, 2025

Hindu girl sexually exploited under false promise of Nikah; later harassed for dowry, given triple talaq and thrown out of the house

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Forced conversion before marriage

Forced to do Nikah

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Case Summary

A case of sexual exploitation of an orphan girl has come to light in the Qila area of the Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh. It is alleged that a young man from the neighborhood lured the victim into a relationship by falsely promising marriage (Nikah). After gaining her trust, the accused repeatedly exploited her sexually. When the victim became pregnant, he forced her to undergo an abortion. When she resisted, the accused's family conspired to have them married. However, after the marriage, she was subjected to dowry harassment and was ultimately given triple talaq and thrown out of the house. The victim stated that the accused, a resident of the Qila area, deceived her and took her to a hotel in the city, where he drugged her and forced himself on her. When she became pregnant and insisted on marriage, he forcibly made her undergo an abortion. When she threatened to report the matter, the accused and his family, fearing legal action, conspired to have her married to him on February 20. The victim, who is an orphan with no surviving parents, stated that due to her circumstances, no dowry was given at the time of marriage. The victim further alleged that just three days after the marriage, the accused, along with his mother and other family members, brutally assaulted her and demanded ₹2 lakh in dowry. When she refused, the accused pronounced triple talaq and threw her out of the house. She was also threatened with death if she tried to resist. Managing to escape, the victim sought refuge at her sister’s home, where she narrated the ordeal. She also alleged that the accused had withdrawn money from her bank account by blackmailing her with threats of leaking her obscene pictures. The victim has filed a complaint against the accused and his family at the Qila police station.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added as a religiously motivated crime under the prime category of- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the first sub-category selected is- Forced conversion before marriage and the tertiary category selected within this is- Forced to do Nikah. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. The relationship in such cases is mostly consensual and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. In such cases, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The second sub-category selected here is- Brainwashed and/or groomed. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. This case exemplifies a religiously motivated hate crime, aligning with a systematic pattern of deception, coercion, and religious subjugation that has been observed in several instances of forced conversion and predatory grooming. The accused deliberately targeted a Hindu woman, manipulating her trust and exploiting her vulnerable status as an orphan to lure her into a relationship under false pretenses. This is a well-documented pattern in cases where Hindu women are systematically singled out, deceived, and coerced into religious conversion—a tactic rooted in religious animosity and forced assimilation. The sexual exploitation of the victim was not an isolated act of abuse but part of a larger agenda of religious subjugation. She was first deceived, then made to convert, and subsequently forced into a Nikah, demonstrating that her Hindu identity was the primary reason she was targeted. The requirement of conversion before Nikah in Islamic law is crucial in establishing the religiously motivated nature of this crime. Had faith been irrelevant, the accused would not have insisted on marriage as per Islamic rituals, where conversion is a pre-requisite to marriage. In fact, this proves that his ultimate intent was not just sexual control but also religious dominance, ensuring that the victim’s Hindu identity was completely erased before being further exploited. After all of this, she was coerced into giving dowry and was later subjected to triple talaq. This is, in fact, a classic case of a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindu women, as it follows a deliberate sequence of actions—deception, forced conversion, religiously mandated marriage, subsequent harassment, and abandonment. The victim was first manipulated and deceived, then coerced into religious conversion as a prerequisite for marriage, proving that her Hindu identity was central to the crime. This was not just an act of sexual exploitation but a systematic effort to erase her religious identity and subject her to religious dominance. The subsequent harassment and abandonment further reflect the predatory pattern of targeting Hindu women for religious subjugation. Such cases exemplify Hinduphobia as they involve the calculated victimisation of Hindu women with the goal of religious coercion and exploitation, making it a clear case of a religiously motivated hate crime.