Married Hindu woman coerced and brainwashed to convert to Islam and marry Muslim man by neighbours
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India 
27 October, 2025
Case Summary
A married Hindu woman was coerced into converting to Islam by her Muslim neighbours in Doiwala, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The woman, a resident of Doiwala, stated in her complaint that her neighbour, Reshma and her family had developed close contact with her. Over time, Reshma introduced her to her husband Shahrukh, who later brought his friend Kabir from Aligarh into the picture. Shahrukh and Kabir began pressuring her to meet frequently and manipulated her emotionally by citing her husband’s drinking problem. They tried to convince her to adopt Islam and marry Kabir. On the night of 28 October 2025, the men attempted to take the woman from her maternal home to Aligarh for conversion and marriage. Her family, however, intervened at the railway station and rescued her. Following this, members of Hindu organisations reached the spot, helped the woman, and protested at the police station, demanding action. The incident sparked protests by Bajrang Dal activists at the local police station, demanding strict action against the perpetrators. The woman filed a written complaint naming Shahrukh, his wife Reshma, and Kabir for conspiring to pressure her into religious conversion. Senior Sub-Inspector Vinod Rana confirmed receipt of the complaint and assured an inquiry. Leaders from Bajrang Dal and other Hindu groups, including Naresh Uniyal, Santosh Rajput, and Avinash Singh, were present during the protest at the police station.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category in this case is: Predatory Proselytisation. The first subcategory under this is: Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. The second 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. This case has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker because it demonstrates a deliberate and targeted attempt to undermine a Hindu woman’s faith through manipulation, coercion, and psychological exploitation. The incident reflects a clear instance of predatory proselytisation, where the perpetrators—operating from positions of familiarity and trust as neighbours—systematically influenced and pressured the victim to renounce her religion and accept Islam. The process of introducing the woman to an external accomplice and emotionally exploiting her vulnerable domestic circumstances shows a coordinated attempt at religious conversion rather than a consensual personal choice. Such cases qualify as religiously motivated hate crimes because the victim’s Hindu identity was the focal point of the perpetrators’ actions. The pressure to abandon Hinduism and accept another faith is not merely an act of persuasion but an expression of religious animosity and dominance. The intent to dismantle her belief system and impose a contrasting one reflects hostility towards her religious background. Furthermore, the involvement of multiple individuals in concert, including a woman who acted as a facilitator, points to the existence of a premeditated network aiming to convert Hindu women under emotional or social duress. By exploiting trust and emotional vulnerability, the perpetrators weaponised personal relationships to achieve religious conversion, thereby violating the victim’s autonomy, dignity, and right to practise her faith freely. This form of predatory proselytisation constitutes a hate crime because it is rooted in the ideological hostility towards Hinduism and seeks to erase the religious identity of the victim through deception and coercion. Disclaimer: The date of the incident has been set as 28 October 2025, as it marks the day when the victim was being forcefully taken by the Muslim perpetrators for religious conversion. Since no information is available regarding when the ordeal of the victim began, this date has been taken as the reference point for documentation.
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
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
