Hindu woman befriended, raped under pretext of marriage, and pressured to convert to Islam by Muslim man

Case ID : 995830e | Location : Ajmer, Rajasthan, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 12 August, 2023

Case ID : 995830e

Ajmer, Rajasthan, India

12 August, 2023

Hindu woman befriended, raped under pretext of marriage, and pressured to convert to Islam 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

Case Summary

In Ajmer, Rajasthan, a Hindu woman was befriended by a Muslim man and then raped under the pretence of marriage. Subsequently, she was pressured to convert to Islam. The Hinduphobia Tracker contacted the police in this case. The police confirmed that the victim is a Hindu woman and the accused is a Muslim man. According to media reports, the incident came to light when the victim filed a complaint at the Pushkar police station against the accused. In her statement, she recounted that she had been befriended by the Muslim accused in 2023. In August 2025, he called her to meet him and took her to a hotel in Pushkar, where he proposed marriage. He then raped her under the false promise of marrying her. After the assault, he abandoned her on the roadside and fled from the scene. Following this, the victim contacted her family and informed them of her ordeal. The victim also stated that the Muslim accused had pressured her to convert to Islam. On the complaint of the Hindu victim, the police registered a case and commenced an investigation into the matter.

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- 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 other subcategory selected in this case 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. In this case, the Hindu woman was befriended and raped by the Muslim perpetrator under the false pretext of marriage. After this, the Muslim accused also pressured the Hindu victim to convert to Islam. Although the Muslim perpetrator 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 Muslim accused’s assurances, she entered into the relationship, during which the Muslim man sexually exploited her under the pretence of marriage. This showcases the psychological grooming and manipulation involved, combined with the deliberate targeting of a Hindu woman for exploitation and intended conversion, which indicates a clear religious motive. Then, the Hindu woman was forced to convert to Islam by the Muslim perpetrator. This highlights that this was not simply a case of rape and sexual exploitation, but an attempt to strip the victim of her religious autonomy and force her to convert to Islam. These actions reflect that the Muslim perpetrator had deep-seated religious animosity towards the victim due to her Hindu faith. It also suggests that the Hindu victim was specifically targeted by the Muslim man to further the broader agenda of religious conversion, making this a crime motivated by religious animosity. Disclaimer: Media reports do not specify the exact date when the Hindu woman’s ordeal began. However, it states that she was befriended by the Muslim accused in 2023. Media outlets reported the incident on 13th August 2025. Therefore, for documentation purposes, an indicative date of 13th August 2023 is being used. Hinduphobia Tracker records the date when the victim’s ordeal begins, rather than the date on which it is reported in the media.