Hindu man evicted from village after refusing circumcision of son and conversion to Islam

Case ID : 99580e2 | Location : Beawar, Rajasthan, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 27 July, 2025

Case ID : 99580e2

Beawar, Rajasthan, India

27 July, 2025

Hindu man evicted from village after refusing circumcision of son and conversion to Islam

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Harassment for conversion leading to exodus

Case Summary

A Hindu man named Sajjan Kathat was forcibly evicted from his native village of Suhawa, Rajasthan, after he refused to circumcise his young son. The demand was made by local Muslim men under the influence of Islamist preachers. When Sajjan declined, his family was declared an outcast. He was barred from entering his farmland, isolated from communal life, and warned never to challenge the “new customs” being enforced in the village. This was not a personal dispute; it was the visible outcome of a long-building campaign to Islamise the culturally Hindu Cheeta-Mehrat and Kathat communities, who reside across Rajasthan’s Ajmer, Beawar, Bhilwara, Rajsamand, and Pali districts. The overwhelming majority had continued to observe Hindu customs, including marriage rituals, temple worship, and cremation of the dead. As per locals, for the past two decades, outsider Islamic clerics have been arriving in these villages with a clear objective, which was to sever the Hindu roots of these communities and bring them fully under Islamic doctrine. They began by preaching in local mosques and setting up madrasas. Then came open hostility to Hindu festivals like Holika Dahan, branding them as haram. Households were pushed to enforce Islamic naming, grow beards, wear skullcaps, and abandon all non-Islamic rituals. In Suhawa, resistance was met with brutal social exclusion. When villagers questioned the growing influence of outsiders, the radicals responded by replacing the clergy. A local man named Mohan, once known for his Hindu beliefs, was renamed Shamsuddin and installed as the village’s new imam. The move was designed to remove all internal dissent and normalise Islamic enforcement from within the community itself. According to Chhotu Singh Chauhan, leader of the Rajasthan Cheeta-Mehrat Hindu Magra-Merwara Mahasabha, a coordinated campaign of forced religious conformity was underway in the region.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: Predatory proselytisation. The subcategory under this is: Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The second sub-category selected is- Harassment for conversion leading to exodus. There have been cases where the Hindus living in an area, often with a majority dwelling belonging to non-Hindus or those harbouring animosity towards the Hindu faith, the Hindu residents experience pressure and threats. The pressure, threats or coercion is employed with two aims – the non-Hindu residents of the area want the Hindu residents to either convert their religion to the religion of the dominant residents or leave the area and relocate, so the area could be turned into an exclusive ghetto for adherents of the non-Hindu faith or those who harbour animosity towards the Hindu faith. In several cases, the aim of exodus is explicit. However, in several cases, the demand for exodus of Hindu residents is not explicit; however, harassment by non-Hindu residents leaves the Hindu residents no option but to leave the area, thereby, turning the area into an exclusive ghetto of non-Hindu residents. In such cases, there are instances of harassment or threats to the Hindu residents explicitly. For example, in the Hauz Qazi case of 2019, the Muslim residents claimed that mob violence against the Hindu residents had been triggered by a parking dispute. However, the violence did turn religious with a temple being desecrated and being directed specifically against the Hindu residents. The Hindu residents of the area were clear that the violence was religiously motivated and one of the motives was to affect an exodus of the Hindu residents. In such cases, even though the perpetrators have not explicitly expressed the aim of affecting exodus, the given circumstances and harassment, coupled with prevailing circumstances and precedent point to the intention of exodus and therefore would be categorised under this sub-category. Such crimes are religiously motivated and therefore are hate crimes. The forced eviction of Sajjan Kathat for refusing to circumcise his son is not merely a local dispute; it constitutes a clear case of religious hate crime against Hindus. The coercion to adopt Islamic practices, followed by social boycott, denial of access to land, and threats for non-compliance, reflects a pattern of targeted religious intimidation. The incident involving the Hindu man in Suhawa, Rajasthan, is a clear example of a hate crime against Hindus, rooted in religious coercion and an ongoing campaign of forced Islamisation. Sajjan was targeted by local Muslims who demanded that he circumcise his young son—a ritual that is a religious prerequisite for conversion to Islam. In Islamic belief, circumcision symbolises entry into the Muslim faith and is considered obligatory. Forcing this practice on a Hindu child is not only a violation of bodily autonomy but a direct attempt to erase religious identity. Sajjan’s refusal to comply led to severe consequences. His family was declared outcasts, he was barred from entering his farmland, and he was subjected to social and economic exclusion. This collective punishment was not the result of any personal feud but a deliberate act of religious persecution, meant to coerce compliance and punish resistance to Islamic norms. The coercive demand for circumcision and the punitive action against Sajjan Kathat must also be seen through the lens of a supremacist mindset that seeks to establish Islamic dominance in a demographically mixed region. This incident underscores a growing effort to transform traditionally Hindu areas into Muslim ghettos through social pressure and religious erasure. Moreover, as the report suggests, this incident was not an isolated one but a part of a broader and deeply concerning trend. For the past two decades, outsider Islamic clerics have been actively working to sever the Hindu roots of the Cheeta-Mehrat and Kathat communities in Rajasthan. These communities, which traditionally practised Hindu customs such as temple worship, cremation, and celebrating festivals like Holika Dahan, are now under pressure to conform to an imposed Islamic identity. The methods have been systematic, like establishing madrasas, discouraging Hindu rituals by branding them as ‘haram,’ enforcing Islamic dress codes, and pushing for name changes and other symbols of religious conformity. In Suhawa, dissenters were silenced by replacing moderate or Hindu-leaning clergy with radicalised figures like Mohan, who was renamed Shamsuddin and installed as the local imam. This strategy aims to consolidate religious control from within, leaving no space for Hindu practices. Such actions stem from deep-rooted doctrinal animosity, where Hindus are viewed as kafirs—infidels who must either submit, convert, or face punishment. This theological hostility fuels the belief that coercion and social exclusion are justified tools to bring non-Muslims under the Islamic fold. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date on which the incident happened. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media.