Hindu woman lured and forced into religious conversion and nikah by Muslim man wearing kalava and tilak and visiting temples to feign his identity
Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India 
7 July, 2025
Case Summary
In Samaspur village, located in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, a 19-year-old Hindu woman named Priyanshi was lured into a relationship and subsequently forced into religious conversion by a Muslim man identified as Salman Ali alias Sohil. The accused posed as a Hindu man named Rajkumar Prajapati. He also wore Hindu symbols like a tilak (a sacred mark on the forehead) and a kalava (a sacred thread tied on the wrist), and visited the Shani temple every Saturday to feign his identity before the victim and her family. Owing to this false identity and regular presence, the family allowed him into their home. Over time, he lured Priyanshi into a relationship and subsequently persuaded her to elope with him. She agreed, and the two absconded. Priyanshi went missing on 8th July 2025. Despite extensive efforts to locate her, the family was unable to trace her whereabouts and filed a missing persons report at the Bharthana police station on 11th July 2025. On the following night, Priyanshi contacted her younger brother and revealed that the man she had known as Rajkumar was, in fact, Salman Ali alias Sohil, a Muslim resident of Aheripur village. She said that Salman had concealed his true identity and was now coercing her into marriage and attempting to force her to convert to Islam. Upon receiving this information, the family immediately alerted the police. The Bharthana police took prompt action and arrested Salman. Priyanshi was also located and recovered safely. Following the arrest, police initiated an interrogation of the accused. A formal case was registered under multiple sections of the BNS, including Sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. The station in charge of Bharthana confirmed that Priyanshi had been placed under police protection and that her statement would be recorded before a magistrate. Bharthana police station has registered a case against the accused under several sections of the IPC, including sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021. The police also launched an investigation to determine whether Salman acted alone or was part of a larger network involved in similar activities. Shrishchandra, Superintendent of Police (Rural), Etawah, stated that legal action was being taken against the accused based on available evidence. Given the gravity of the matter, the police were examining all possible angles. He also stated that this incident was not merely an act of deception against an individual but a broader societal concern. Concealing one’s religious identity to mislead others was not only a legal offence but also deeply damaging to the social fabric.
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 first subcategory selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary category selected is- 'Name Changed' and 'Wears symbols of Hinduism'. 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- Forced conversion before marriage. The tertiary category selected 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. 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 the 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 selected here is- Brainwashed and/or groomed. Within this, the tertiary category selected is- Victim says she was brainwashed/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 is added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was deliberately deceived by a Muslim man who posed as a Hindu in order to initiate and maintain a relationship with her. The accused also wore religious symbols such as the kalava (a sacred thread) and tilak (a holy mark applied on the forehead), and visited a Hindu temple to appear genuine in his false identity. The Muslim perpetrator's malicious intent is evident from the outset as the accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu woman. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and "ensnare" a Hindu individual is not just an act of personal betrayal but is also an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs. The Muslim accused was well aware that the victim, being Hindu, would likely refuse his advances if she knew his real identity, and he circumvented this by lying, which directly points to a religiously driven intent. Such instances of targeting of Hindu women due to their religious identity demonstrate a fundamental disregard for Hinduism and a deeper animosity towards the Hindu community. The deliberate use of Hindu religious symbols to gain trust and misrepresent one’s identity reflects not only calculated deceit but also an underlying bias against the victim’s faith. By exploiting the sanctity of Hindu symbols to further his personal agenda, the accused demonstrated a deliberate disrespect for Hinduism. The Kalava and Tilak hold deep spiritual significance within Hinduism, and so does the temple. Using them as tools of deception not only violates the trust placed in religious identity but also amounts to a desecration of sacred symbols. It reflects religious insensitivity and shows disregard for Hindu beliefs and practices, which highlights the religious dimension of the crime. Additionally, the victim herself stated that the Muslim perpetrator brainwashed her and persuaded her to elope with him. Following this, the woman was coerced to convert to Islam and marry him (Nikah). This clearly demonstrates that the Muslim perpetrator deliberately deceived the Hindu woman to pursue his underlying objective of religious conversion and marriage. Such actions constitute a violation of the Hindu woman's right to practise her faith and choose her life partner. It is an attempt to strip the victim of her Hindu identity. These acts reflect deep-seated religious animosity and disdain towards Hindus and Hinduism, making it a religiously motivated crime. Such acts are often committed by Muslim perpetrators influenced by Islamic indoctrination that advocates the subjugation of non-Muslims, in this case, Hindus, and promotes the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam. These actions reflect a deep-seated hostility towards Hinduism and its practices. The deliberate targeting of Hindus, particularly Hindu women, through deception and coercion serves to dehumanise them until they conform to the religious identity of the perpetrator. This pattern highlights the clear religious motivations behind such crimes. In light of these factors, this case is being included in the hate crime database. Disclaimer: Media reports do not mention the exact date when the woman was first lured into a relationship through deceit. The only confirmed date is 8th July 2025, when she went missing after eloping with the Muslim perpetrator. Therefore, for the purpose of documentation, we have used this date as the date of the incident, as Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began and not when it was reported by the media.
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
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
