Hindu woman targeted for conversion, lured and raped by Christian man posing as Hindu
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India 
17 February, 2024
Case Summary
In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a 24-year-old Hindu woman was lured, raped and pressured for religious conversion by a Christian man named Arpit. The accused had concealed his Christian identity and pretended to be Hindu. According to reports, Arpit befriended the Hindu woman about one and a half years ago in February 2024, through social media, by introducing himself as a Hindu. Gradually, their friendship developed into a romantic relationship, and he invited her to meet him in person. He then took her to his house, where he established a physical relationship with her. Over the following months, he continued to sexually exploit the Hindu woman. The victim had informed him that she was already married, but he assured her that it was not an obstacle and said he would marry her soon. When the victim later pressed for marriage, the accused revealed that he was Christian and that the marriage would only take place if she converted to Christianity. The accused's friends also tried to lure the victim with an offer of five lakh rupees if she agreed to convert and marry him. When the victim refused, the accused threatened to make her private pictures viral on social media. The victim eventually, with the help of a Hindu organisation, filed a complaint with the police, after which the accused was arrested. During the initial investigation, police found objectionable chats and videos of multiple Hindu girls on the accused's phone. As of the date of writing this report, the investigation was ongoing.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Man pretends to be Hindu, with the tertiary category being - Name changed and Pattern of targeting Hindu women. 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 second sub-category selected here 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 sub-category selected here is - Blackmailed to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The fourth sub-category selected here 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. The second primary category selected here is - Predatory Proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement. Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases therefore are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity forms the very heart of the crime itself. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was lured into a relationship and sexually exploited by a Christian man, who pretended to be Hindu. The perpetrator deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu woman. This itself was 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 indicated 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 can also be interpreted as an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs, reflecting a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. Furthermore, when the victim pressed for marriage, he told her that marriage would only happen if she converted to Christianity. This underscored the religious motivations behind the crime. The accused sexually exploited the Hindu woman on the false promise of marriage, with the ultimate goal of converting the victim. Pressuring someone to abandon their faith and adopt another religion against their will is a blatant violation of religious freedom. The intention was not simply to marry, but to erase the Hindu identity of the victim and assimilate her into another religious fold through deception. When the victim resisted these demands, the accused threatened to leak her obscene videos online to further pressure her into conversion. These threats were not random acts of violence—they were directly tied to her refusal to give up her Hindu faith. Such acts were not merely personal crimes; they were rooted in a desire to dominate and erase the religious identity of the victim. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith, since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised until they convert. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case was documented as a religiously motivated hate crime. Additionally, she was also offered five lakh rupees if she agreed to convert and marry the accused. This proved that the accused was never interested in a genuine relationship with a Hindu woman. Instead, his only goal was sexual exploitation and religious conversion. Offering incentives or money for religious conversion, especially when directed at vulnerable individuals in need, shows that these incentives were not acts of kindness or charity. Instead, they were calculated moves to exploit vulnerable Hindus because of their religion. This kind of coercion profoundly diminishes the agency and dignity of Hindus and enforces forced conversion. Such actions are rooted in religious animosity, intended to undermine the Hindu faith and compel them to accept Christianity. Disclaimer - Media reports state that the victim's ordeal began when she was befriended by the accused one and a half years ago, though no exact date or month is provided. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date—February 18, 2024—as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on August 18, 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported. Disclaimer – The accused’s friends were also involved in the forced conversion, but their number was unknown. Therefore, the number of perpetrators has been recorded as “unknown.”
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
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
