Hindu woman sexually exploited, forced to wear burqa and threatened for religious conversion by Muslim man and his family
Banas Kantha, Gujarat, India 
2 July, 2025
Case Summary
In Banaskantha, Gujarat, a Hindu woman was deceived, sexually exploited, and pressured to convert to Islam by a Muslim man named Javed Usman Maredia and his family. According to reports, the Hindu woman, a resident of Palanpur, came into contact with the accused some time ago. Javed gradually lured her into a relationship and sexually exploited her by taking her to various hotels under the false pretext of marriage. When she asked him to marry her, Javed invited her to his house, where his wife Naseema and daughter were also present. It was there that the Hindu woman was pressured to convert to Islam. They also threatened to kill her if she refused to convert and forcibly made her wear a burqa and a garland. The victim was taken to a shrine in Unawathu, where she was kept locked for four days. Meanwhile, her family lodged a missing person complaint. Police traced the victim through her mobile phone and rescued the girl. As of the date of writing this report, the accused was arrested by the police, and the investigation was ongoing.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is:- Forced conversion before marriage, with the tertiary category being: - Forced to wear Hijab. 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. 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, 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. 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, 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 other sub-category relevant here is: - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary category being: - Rape and sexual assault/harassment. In several cases, a Hindu woman and/or minor is sexually harassed and/or assaulted with a religious motive. For example, in a case in Kausambi, UP, a Hindu girl was raped by non-Hindu perpetrators. During the assault, the victim pleaded to 'spare her in the name of Bhagwan'. The perpetrators then asked her to plead in the name of Allah. This clearly indicates a religious motive for the crime and evidences the religious animosity the perpetrators harboured against the victim owing to her religious identity. Such cases would be added to this tertiary category since the religious animosity makes the crime a hate crime. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was pressured for religious conversion, forced to wear a burqa, and sexually exploited by a Muslim man under the false pretext of marriage. Forcing her into Islamic attire was not just about clothing; it was a psychological tactic to impose an alien religious identity on her and symbolically erase her Hindu identity. Furthermore, he kept her locked up for four days; an attempt to mentally break her spirit and resistance, so as to make her more susceptible to religious conversion. Combined with death threats, all these were manipulative tactics designed to impose Islam on someone who doesn't share the same faith. His actions were rooted in religious hatred towards her Hindu identity. Thus, the accused was never interested in a genuine relationship with a Hindu woman; instead, his only goal was sexual exploitation and the religious conversion of a Hindu woman This stems from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert. Thus, often coercive tactics such as deception, emotional manipulation or even violence are used for religious conversion; conversion is not seen as an act of spiritual choice but as a badge of honour. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime.
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
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
female
Sources 
