Hindu woman murdered by Muslim man for refusing Nikah proposal
Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India 
10 March, 2025
Case Summary
In Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman named Nikita was murdered by a Muslim man named Zeeshan after she refused his Nikah proposal. Enraged by her rejection, Zeeshan pushed her from the hospital rooftop, resulting in her death. He was assisted in the crime by another Muslim man named Riyaz and a hospital operator named Subash Pal. According to media reports, Nikita and Zeeshan both worked at Pal Hospital. Nikita was working as a nurse in the hospital. Zeeshan had proposed marriage to Nikita, but as she was a Hindu, she refused to marry a Muslim man. Infuriated by her rejection, Zeeshan threw her off the rooftop of the hospital. Before committing the crime, he and Riyaz switched off the hospital's CCTV cameras to avoid being caught. Nikita sustained severe injuries and was admitted to the hospital, but she died of her injuries during treatment. Her family filed a police complaint against the accused. According to OpIndia, the family alleged that Nikita was raped before her murder. On the day of the incident, Zeeshan, Riyaz, Nikita, and other staff members were sitting on the ground floor of the hospital. Suddenly, Riyaz turned off the CCTV cameras. Nikita went to the second floor, where Zeeshan and Riyaz followed her. As she stood near the railing, they pushed her off the rooftop. After committing the crime, Zeeshan and Riyaz informed Dr Subhash Pal, the hospital operator. Dr Subhash rushed Nikita to the ICU, while Zeeshan and Riyaz tried to clean her blood from the floor. However, once they realised that Nikita had died during treatment, both Zeeshan and Riyaz fled the hospital. Hindu organisations staged a protest against the police for failing to act swiftly and arrest the accused. They demanded justice for the woman and her family. Following Nikita’s murder, the police registered a case against three individuals: Zeeshan (the prime accused), Riyaz (his accomplice), and Dr Subhash Pal (hospital operator). The police arrested Zeeshan and Riyaz. They assured Nikita’s family and the Hindu organisations that Subhash Pal would also be arrested.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under two prime categories. The first is- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The first sub-category selected under this is- Forced conversion before marriage and the tertiary category chosen 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 under the above-mentioned category is- Rape for refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces pressure/threats/violence to convert and change her religious identity 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 pressuring the Hindu woman to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim man could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. As the case may be, in such cases, the non-Hindu man forces himself sexually on the Hindu woman when she refuses his advances and pressures to convert her religion. The rape of the woman is often seen as either a punishment for the woman refusing to convert. 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 selected is- Murder upon refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is forced to convert her religion and upon her refusal to do so, the non-Hindu partner murders the victim. 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 pressuring the Hindu woman to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim man could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu woman is first pressurized to change her religion by the non-Hindu man. The pressure could involve threats and/or violence. The trigger to murdering the woman in these cases is her refusal to comply and change her religion under threat and/or force. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The second category under which this case has been placed is- Attack resulting in death. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Attacked for refusal to convert. Any sort of physical attack against a Hindu or a group of Hindus, not resulting in death, due to religious motivations of Abrahamics would be included in this category. This would include local communal clashes, attacks due to Abrahamic blasphemy, Hindus crossing through so-called "Muslim areas", refusal to convert, and any other religious supremacy reasons. The cases categorized here should have resulted in the death of a Hindu victim. Since the attack itself is motivated by religious considerations the crime would be considered a hate crime. In cases where the trigger of the violence is not religious, however, the conflict takes on a religious nature during the course of the violence would also be categorised as a hate crime. This case is a clear example of a religiously motivated hate crime where a Hindu woman, Nikita, was targeted and ultimately murdered for refusing to convert to Islam for Nikah. The requirement of conversion to Islam as a precondition for marriage in Islamic law played a direct role in triggering the crime. Nikita’s murder was not just a personal crime but a deeply rooted act of religious intolerance, where her refusal to abandon her Hindu faith resulted in her brutal killing. Zeeshan’s rage upon being rejected for Nikah signifies an ideological belief that a Hindu woman should either submit to religious conversion or face consequences. The premeditated nature of the crime, where Zeeshan and Riyaz disabled CCTV cameras to cover their tracks before pushing Nikita off the rooftop, shows that this was not a spur-of-the-moment act but a deliberate execution of violence driven by religious hostility. The alleged sexual assault prior to the murder further indicates a pattern of targeting Hindu women, where they are first exploited and then eliminated when they resist conversion. Zeeshan’s act of murdering a woman solely because she refused to adopt his faith underscores the religious motive behind the crime, making it an undeniable instance of anti-Hindu hatred and worthy of being documented here.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
1
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
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
