Hindu woman gang-raped, converted, and forced into marriage, mother coerced to convert; brother assaulted for protesting
Kaushambi District, Uttar Pradesh, India 
30 August, 2025
Case Summary
A 19-year-old Hindu woman was gang-raped and forcibly converted to Islam in Kaushambi district, Uttar Pradesh. The incident took place on the night of August 31, 2025, when she was lured to a location by a woman named Neha Bano, a resident of her village. Upon arrival, Neha’s brothers, Saif Khan, 24, and Anuj Ahmed, 25, raped her. According to the victim’s mother, who filed the complaint with the Superintendent of Police, the perpetrators abused the young woman and threatened her with death while attempting to force her into marriage. During the same incident, the village mosque’s Maulana forced them to recite the Kalma to forcibly convert both the victim and her mother to Islam. Villagers identified as Chhotu Khan, Atiq Ahmed, and Israr Ahmed were also present and actively participated in the crime. The following morning, the mother and daughter managed to return home and revealed the assault and forced conversion to their family. When the family protested, the victim’s brother was assaulted in public, and the family was threatened with death. Kaushambi police registered an FIR against all seven accused, including Saif Khan, Anuj Ahmed, Neha Bano, Chhotu Khan, Atiq Ahmed, Israr Ahmed, and the Maulana of the village mosque. Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Singh confirmed that several suspects were in custody for questioning as investigations continued.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category in this case is: 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. Another category in this case is: Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory under this is: Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. This case has been added to the tracker because it exemplifies a deliberate and coordinated campaign of religiously motivated violence, sexual assault, and coercion directed at a Hindu family in Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh. The 19-year-old Hindu woman was first lured and sexually assaulted by Saif Khan and Anuj Ahmed, who, with the help of their sister Neha Bano, entrapped her under false pretences. The perpetrators then extended their attack beyond the individual victim by forcing both her and her mother to undergo a religious conversion through a coerced recitation of the Kalma, under the supervision of the village mosque’s Maulana. This shows a calculated attempt to dismantle the religious identity of the entire household rather than an isolated act of violence. The classification of this case under “Predatory Proselytisation – Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion” is critical because the forced conversion was central to the crime. The assault, threats, and humiliation of the Hindu woman and her mother were explicitly tied to an ideological aim: to replace their religious identity through intimidation and fear. Such conversions are not matters of personal choice but of systemic coercion, demonstrating deep hostility toward Hinduism and those who practice it. The secondary category of “Attack not resulting in death” is also relevant because when the family resisted this persecution, the brother was publicly assaulted, and the entire family was threatened with death. This reflects a wider pattern where Hindus are punished not only for resisting conversion but for daring to defend their loved ones against radicalised elements. The intimidation served a dual purpose: to silence the family and to assert dominance over the community through terror. This case shows how predatory proselytisation is not confined to verbal persuasion or covert manipulation but can involve extreme violence, rape, and the collective targeting of families. The deliberate inclusion of sexual assault, forced religious ritual, and subsequent attacks on relatives demonstrates that the motive was explicitly religious, aiming to degrade, control, and convert Hindus through terror. This case has been added to the tracker because it highlights the multifaceted ways in which Hindus face religiously motivated hate crimes that attack not only individuals but also their entire familial and cultural identity. Such acts are carried out by Muslim perpetrators due to indoctrination by the Islamic theology, which advocates that all non-Muslims (referred to as kafirs) are inferior and subject to subjugation unless they convert to Islam or live under Islamic rule (dhimmitude). These ideas are not mere abstractions; they manifest in actions where non-Muslims, especially Hindus in India, are seen as targets for religious domination, coercion, or humiliation. This theological framework fosters an "us versus them" mindset, in which any assertion of Hindu identity or religious freedom is seen not only as undesirable but as a threat to Islamic supremacy. As a result, perpetrators who are shaped by such teachings feel justified, even morally obligated, to harass, suppress, or violently attack Hindus, particularly when Hindus assert their religious rights or resist conversion. Such acts, therefore, are not isolated but driven by a broader ideological hostility towards Hindus as non-believers and reflect an attempt to impose religious dominance. Since this case was also not a random, isolated incident of grooming of a minor but a premeditated attack motivated by bias and hatred against the Hindu community, which is a defining feature of hate crimes, this has been added to the tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
3
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 2
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 3
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 2
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
