Hindu woman deceived by Muslim man pretending to be Hindu, blackmailed and pressured to convert to Islam

Case ID : 90a09bd | Location : Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 7 March, 2025

Case ID : 90a09bd

Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, India

7 March, 2025

Hindu woman deceived by Muslim man pretending to be Hindu, blackmailed and pressured to convert to Islam

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Blackmailed to convert

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

In the Shivgarh police station area of Raebareli, a Muslim man named Arbaaz disguised himself as a Hindu named Sunny to deceive a Hindu woman into a romantic relationship. He gained her trust, engaged in a physical relationship with her, and secretly recorded private videos. When the woman later discovered his true identity, she immediately cut ties with him. However, after her marriage, Arbaaz resurfaced, threatening and blackmailing her with the explicit videos, demanding that she convert to Islam and marry him. The incident occurred in a village under Shivgarh police station limits. During her college days, the woman met a young man who introduced himself as Sunny, claiming to be Hindu. As their relationship progressed, they became physically involved. Eventually, she learned that Sunny was actually Arbaaz and, upon discovering the deception, she severed all contact with him. After some time, her family arranged her marriage within their own community, and she began her new life. However, Arbaaz reappeared, pressuring her to leave her husband, convert to Islam, and marry him instead. The woman alleged that not only Arbaaz but also his parents and siblings were involved in coercing her. When she refused, Arbaaz threatened to expose her private pictures and videos to her husband. Staying true to his threats, he ultimately sent the videos, which led to turmoil in her marriage. Enraged by the revelations, her husband assaulted her, leaving her with a fractured hand. The woman stated that her married life was completely destroyed due to Arbaaz’s actions. Following her complaint, the Shivgarh police registered a case against Arbaaz, his parents, sister, and two brothers. Additional SP Sanjeev Sinha confirmed that Arbaaz was arrested.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

Distinct elements in this particular case demonstrate that the crime was committed while harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith. As per case details, the prime category under which this case has been placed in the hate tracker is 'Hate crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes'. Further, three sub-categories under this prime category have been chosen to break down the case. The first sub-category relevant in this case is, 'Man pretends to be Hindu', under which the tertiary category named, 'Name Changed' has been selected. 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 second sub-category selected under the aforementioned prime category is- Blackmailed to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The third sub-category under which this case has been placed 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. The religious motive of the crime is evident from the fact that the Muslim perpetrator actively hid his true identity to trap the Hindu victim. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. Further, the religious angle of the crime became more apparent when the Muslim man continued to take advantage of her physically; recorded the act and then used it to blackmail her into converting to Islam. He targeted the victim specifically owing to her religious identity and after that, tried to forcefully change her religious identity to Islam. When his real identity was revealed to the victim, he threatened and blackmailed to make the obscene video viral. This was an arm-twisting tactic to coerce the victim into complying with his conversion demands. This case has been documented in the hate tracker as every detail points towards the fact that the perpetrator wanted to target the victim because of her religious identity specifically and that his motivation was driven by religious hate.