Hindu woman sexually exploited under false promise of marriage, pressured and assaulted for religious conversion by Muslim man

Case ID : 99581ab | Location : Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 2 August, 2022

Case ID : 99581ab

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

2 August, 2022

Hindu woman sexually exploited under false promise of marriage, pressured and assaulted for religious conversion by Muslim man

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Forced conversion before marriage

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

In Madiyaon, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was lured into a relationship by a Muslim man. Subsequently, she was subjected to sexual exploitation for three years and was pressured to convert to Islam. She was also threatened with death and assaulted by the Muslim accused for refusing to convert to Islam. According to media reports, the young woman was lured by Mohammad Talib in 2022. The victim, originally from Lakhimpur Kheri, was living in Madiyaon at the time. She met Talib, a resident of New Haiderganj in the Thakurganj area. Talib lured her into a romantic relationship, and they began living together in a live-in arrangement. During this period, according to the victim, Talib sexually exploited her many times under the promise of marriage. The accused, Talib, also took two lakh rupees from the victim. When the woman pressed him for marriage, Talib demanded that she convert to Islam. Upon her refusal, he assaulted her and threatened to kill her before fleeing. After several failed attempts to contact him, the victim went to Talib's house to seek information, where his father, Sagir, and brother, Tariq, also threatened her. Distressed by these events, the victim approached the Madiyaon police and filed a case against Talib, his father, and his brother. Inspector Shivanand Mishra confirmed that the case was under investigation and that searches for the accused were ongoing. According to DCP North Zone Gopal Chaudhary, the two had been living together, and later, the victim stated she was sexually exploited under promises of marriage and pressured to convert. A case had been registered, and further action was in progress.

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- Brainwashed and/or Groomed. The tertiary category selected is- Rape and 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. The second subcategory selected is- Forced conversion before marriage. 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 third subcategory selected is- Assault or threat upon refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force 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 pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. In this case, the Hindu victim was lured into a relationship and sexually exploited by the Muslim perpetrator under the false pretext of marriage. She was also forced to convert to Islam. Following this, she was subjected to death threats and physical assault by the Muslim perpetrator for refusing to convert to Islam. In this instance, although the Muslim accused did not conceal his identity, the nature of the relationship suggested that the Hindu woman was initially led to believe that her faith would not be a barrier to their romantic involvement. Trusting the accused’s assurances, she entered into the relationship, during which the Muslim man repeatedly sexually exploited her under the pretence of marriage. While the victim is an adult, the psychological grooming involved, combined with the deliberate targeting of a Hindu woman for exploitation and intended religious conversion, indicates a clear religious motive. The act of pressuring the Hindu victim to convert to Islam unmistakably demonstrates the religious motivation behind this crime. Conversion, when not based on personal conviction but instead on external persuasion or coercion, is not simply about adopting another faith; it reveals the animosity that the Muslim perpetrator harboured towards the Hindu woman because of her religious identity. Such acts show that the victim was deliberately targeted and sexually exploited with the underlying agenda of religious conversion and abuse, making this a clear case of a religiously motivated crime. The Muslim perpetrator also threatened and assaulted the woman when she refused to convert, making it clear that the incident was a premeditated attempt to force the Hindu woman into Islam, fuelled by deep-rooted religious hostility towards her Hindu background. Instances of sexual violence, coercion, and compelled conversion against Hindu women stem from intolerance and hatred of their original faith, classifying this as a religiously motivated hate crime. In this case, the victim was targeted specifically because of her Hindu faith. The Muslim perpetrator manipulated her into a relationship under false pretences, sexually exploited her, and persistently pressured her to convert to Islam. This highlights a disturbing pattern of coercion, manipulation and exploitation, all revolving around forcing her to abandon her religious beliefs. Such actions are designed to intimidate, control, and harm Hindu victims solely because of their religious background. The combination of religious targeting, sexual exploitation under the pretext of marriage, pressure to convert, and assault and threat upon refusing to convert, is what defines this as a hate crime against a Hindu woman and justifies its inclusion in the hate crime database. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the woman’s ordeal began. However, it states that she met the accused three years ago. Since the media report was published on 3rd August 2025, for documentation, we are using an indicative date of 3rd August 2022 as the Hinduphobia Tracker records the start date of the victim's ordeal, rather than the date it is reported in the media.