Hindu woman subjected to sexual exploitation, blackmailing, and death threats by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Case ID : 9958544 | Location : Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 31 August, 2025

Case ID : 9958544

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

31 August, 2025

Hindu woman subjected to sexual exploitation, blackmailing, and death threats by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Case Summary

In Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was lured and sexually violated by a Muslim man named Zubair Ali. The accused posed as a Hindu man named Rahul and deceived the woman under the pretext of offering her a job. Following this, she was subjected to sexual exploitation, blackmail, and death threats. According to media reports, the incident came to light when the victim approached the Muradnagar police station in Ghaziabad. She stated that Zubair first lured her with the promise of a job by introducing himself as Rahul. He then took her to a hotel, raped her, and recorded a video of the assault. Using this video, Zubair repeatedly blackmailed her, calling her back to the hotel, where he continued to sexually exploit her. He also took valuables from her home, including a gold ring, earrings, silver items, and two mobile phones. When she resisted, he threatened to kill her and her family, warning that he would chop them into pieces. Following her complaint, the police registered a case under Sections 64 (rape), 308(2) (threat to kill), and 351 (property usurpation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023. Additional CP Alok Priyadarshi confirmed that Zubair had been arrested and that the investigation was ongoing. The incident provoked outrage among Hindu organisations, which described it as an instance of “Love Jihad.” The term refers to a pattern in which Muslim men target Hindu women after religiously profiling them and luring them into romantic relationships or marriages, with the ultimate aim of forced conversion to Islam or sexual exploitation, rooted in religious animosity.

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- Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary category selected is- Name Changed. 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- 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. This case is an instance of a hate crime specifically targeting a Hindu woman, demonstrated by several key factors. From the very first day, the woman was deceived and lured under false pretences by a Muslim man who pretended to be Hindu, offering her a job. This deceitful tactic was designed to win her trust and manipulate her based on her vulnerability and religious identity. The use of a false identity to gain her confidence and target her under such pretences clearly reveals religious bias and animosity directed at her because she is Hindu. Such actions demonstrate the religiously motivated nature of the crime. Secondly, the Muslim accused sexually exploited the woman, recording an obscene video of the assault, which he then used to repeatedly blackmail her. This exploitation and blackmail were not random acts of crime; rather, they functioned as religiously motivated tools aimed at targeting, humiliating, and dominating a Hindu woman because of her faith. The specific focus on her Hindu identity in the commission of these acts highlights the religious hatred underlying the crime, making it a religiously motivated offence. Thirdly, the Muslim perpetrator further exploited the victim economically by stealing her jewellery and other valuables. When she resisted, he threatened to kill her and her entire family, escalating the violence and intimidation with explicit death threats, including promises to harm them with a knife. These threats and actions added to the trauma based on religious hatred, intensifying the crime’s nature as a hate-driven offence. Together, these acts show clear religious hostility towards the victim and her faith. Given these circumstances, the crime meets the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime and has been included in the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: Media reports do not specify the exact date when the victim’s ordeal began. The Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident date based on when the victim’s suffering commenced, rather than the date of media reporting. However, as details about the start of the ordeal are unavailable in this case, the date of media publication—1st September 2025—is used as the indicative date of the incident.