Hindu woman lured under pretext of job, raped, forced to convert to Islam and marry by Muslim man
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 
29 June, 2025
Case Summary
In Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was lured under the pretext of employment and was subsequently raped by a Muslim man named Salman alias Zakil. The accused also blackmailed and sexually exploited her, following which he pressured her to convert to Islam and marry him. The Hinduphobia Tracker managed to contact the Quarsi police in this case, who confirmed that the victim was Hindu. According to reports, the victim was from a neighbourhood in the Bannadevi police station area. After suffering at the hands of Salman, she filed a First Information Report (FIR) at the Quarsi police station in Aligarh. In the complaint, she stated that after her father's death, the family's financial situation was not good. Hence, she had gone to a bike agency on Ramghat Road in search of a job. A young woman there took her resume. After that, the accused, Salman, called her and lured her with the promise of a job. Their telephone conversation began. Thereafter, the accused took her to a hotel located in Nagla Patwari under the pretext of introducing her to an officer. There, he forcibly raped her. In collusion with the hotel manager, obscene videos were made of the victim's rape. Following this, the accused threatened to make the videos viral and blackmailed her for four months while sexually exploiting her all this while. Subsequently, the accused began pressuring her to convert to Islam and marry him. The police registered a case against the accused Salman alias Zakil, manager of Hotel Golden Imperial, based on the victim's complaint. Subsequently, Salman was arrested by the police and produced in court on 30th October 2025, after which he was sent to jail.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory 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. The other subcategory selected 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. The other subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Within this, the tertiary category selected is- Rape and sexual assault/harassment. 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. This case is a stark example of a religiously motivated hate crime where the accused deliberately targeted the Hindu woman because of her religious identity. Salman alias Zakil exploited the young woman’s vulnerable situation after her father's death and her family’s poor financial condition. The accused offered a job not out of kindness, but as a calculated inducement designed to exploit her vulnerability. By luring her with false promises, Salman specifically preyed on her because she was Hindu, with the intent to ultimately convert her to Islam and control her through marriage. This act manifests a deep-rooted religious hostility, transforming an offer of employment into a weaponised tool of religious persecution. Hence, this is not a chance encounter but a premeditated hate crime targeted against the Hindu victim and her community. After gaining her trust, the accused took the victim to a hotel under the pretence of introducing her to an official. There, he brutally raped her, violating her physically and mentally. In collusion with the hotel manager, obscene videos of this assault were recorded and later used to blackmail the victim. For at least four months, Salman sexually exploited her, using these videos as leverage to maintain control. During this prolonged torment, he pressured her repeatedly to convert to Islam. This pattern of using rape as a tool to enforce religious conversion highlights a severe religious animus, where sexual violence extends beyond gratification to become a weapon of religious domination. This was a calculated attempt to subjugate a Hindu woman specifically for her faith, making this a heinous case of religiously motivated coercion and harassment. Forcing someone to renounce their religion infringes upon their fundamental right to religious freedom and autonomy. In this case, coerced religious conversion and pressured marriage are not merely personal crimes but systematic attempts to erase the victim's Hindu identity. This coercion evidences entrenched religious animosity intent on destroying the victim’s original faith and replacing it with Islam. Such actions reflect deep-seated hatred targeted at the Hindu community as a whole and constitute a clear and deliberate hate crime aimed at cultural and religious erasure. Throughout the ordeal, Salman repeatedly manipulated and exploited the victim, subjecting her to ongoing rape and psychological coercion. This prolonged abuse demonstrates a clear pattern of targeting and dehumanising a Hindu woman based solely on her religious identity. Such systematic exploitation is emblematic of hate crimes that combine sexual violence with religious persecution. These facts have led to this case being catalogued in the Hinduphobia Tracker’s hate crime database to ensure documentation, awareness, and advocacy against religiously motivated violence targeting Hindu women. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of an incident based on the actual date when the crime occurs. However, in this particular case, media reports have not provided the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. The reports only specify the date when the accused was presented in court and sent to jail, which was on 30th October 2025. Additionally, the reports mention that after trapping her and raping her, the accused continuously exploited her for a period of at least four months. Based on these details, the Hinduphobia Tracker has selected 30th June 2025 as an indicative date to estimate the start of her suffering, providing a reasonable approximation for the incident's timeline.
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
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
