Hindu girl driven to suicide after being subjected to sexual exploitation and blackmail by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Case ID : 9957e2a | Location : Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 21 June, 2025

Case ID : 9957e2a

Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India

21 June, 2025

Hindu girl driven to suicide after being subjected to sexual exploitation and blackmail by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Case Summary

In Haldibari city, in the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, a Hindu girl was lured into a relationship by a Muslim man named Ashik Islam, who feigned a Hindu identity to trap her. According to news reports, the Hindu victim was a young college student. The accused, Ashik Islam, pretended to be a Hindu to entrap her in a romantic relationship. He subsequently sexually exploited her and secretly captured obscene photographs and recorded videos of her. When the victim discovered his true identity, she wished to end the relationship and walk away. However, Ashik began blackmailing her with her obscene images and videos, threatening to leak them online. Deeply distressed by these events, the victim attempted to take her own life on 22nd June 2025. A week later, on 30th June 2025, she died in the hospital. Soon after her suicide, Ashik Islam fled to Kerala. He was later arrested by the West Bengal police.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. 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 other subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or Groomed. Within this, the tertiary category selected is- Rape or sexual assault/ harassment. 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. In this case, a Hindu girl was deceived, sexually exploited, blackmailed, and driven to suicide by a Muslim man posing as a Hindu. This is a clear example of a hate crime targeting a Hindu girl based on her religious identity. This incident goes beyond individual criminality and enters the realm of hate crime due to the calculated use of religious deception, targeted exploitation, and subsequent threats, all of which specifically preyed upon the victim’s faith and community background. In this case, the religious motive of the crime is evident from the perpetrator’s deliberate concealment of his Muslim identity to deceive the Hindu victim. This act itself demonstrates clear bias and malicious intent towards the victim’s religion. By hiding his own religious identity, the Muslim perpetrator exploited the victim's trust and targeted her under false pretences, indicating a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious identity. In such instances, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and ensnare a Hindu individual is not only an act of personal betrayal but an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism. This reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs, which is why this case has been included here. Once the trust of the Hindu victim was established under false pretences, the Muslim perpetrator, Ashik, lured the woman into a relationship and sexually exploited her. He went further by taking obscene photographs and videos, using these as tools for blackmail. The victim’s ordeal did not end with the revelation of Ashik's true identity; instead, the abuse escalated. When she discovered that Ashik was not a Hindu but a Muslim, she attempted to distance herself from him. However, Ashik responded by threatening to release the explicit content, thereby exerting complete control over her life and choices. The psychological trauma inflicted on the victim was compounded by the religious betrayal. The use of religious disguise to facilitate sexual exploitation and blackmail is not merely a personal violation but also an attack on the victim’s religious identity and dignity. This pattern of abuse, where Muslim perpetrators target Hindu women and girls by concealing their religious identity, has been documented in several cases. Such cases are marked by a recurring pattern: the religious identity of the perpetrator is deliberately hidden, trust is gained, exploitation follows, and threats or coercion are used to maintain control over the Hindu victim. Such actions are a result of deep-rooted hatred and disdain for Hindus and their faith. Following these events, the victim was left profoundly traumatised by the deceit, threats, and blackmail, ultimately leading her to take her own life. This tragic outcome demonstrates the severe psychological torment she endured at the hands of the Muslim perpetrator. Targeting a Hindu girl through deceit, exploiting her trust, and driving her to suicide through relentless blackmail and mental torture constitutes a deliberate attack against a member of the Hindu community. Such actions reflect a deep-seated hostility towards the victim and her faith, making this an instance of a crime motivated by religious animosity. Since this case meets the parameters of a religiously motivated crime, it is being added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: Media reports do not specify the exact date when the victim’s ordeal began. The earliest indication is that she tried to commit suicide on 22nd June 2025. Therefore, for the purpose of documentation, we are using an indicative date— 22nd June 2025, even though this news came to light on 9th July 2025, as Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.