Hindu woman sexually exploited under pretext of marriage, forced to convert to Islam and wear burqa by Muslim man in Maharashtra
Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India 
29 August, 2019
Case Summary
In Shiye Village, Karvir Taluka, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, a Hindu woman was lured into a relationship by a Muslim man named Gaibisaab Dastagir Lengre. The accused enticed her under the pretext of marriage and exploited her sexually. Subsequently, he forced her to convert to Islam and wear a burqa. He also subjected the victim to Islamic occult practices and compelled her to wear Islamic taabeez (amulets). According to media reports, the victim was deceived without knowing that the accused, her landlord, was already married and a father of two. He exploited this deceit to sexually exploit her since 2019. Subsequently, she was coerced by Gaibisaab and his mother, Babyjaan Dastagir Lengre, to convert to Islam and wear a burqa. Additionally, she was also subjected to Islamic occult practices by an Islamic Peer Baba (Occultist) known as "Bhondubaba." As part of the coercion, the accused obtained an amulet (taabeez) from this occultist, which included a lemon and a black-thread necklace, and forced the woman to wear it around her neck. Lengre issued a chilling threat: "Do not remove this amulet or disclose it to anyone, or I will kill you." Subsequently, the victim discovered Lengre's marital status and his two children, confirming that she had been thoroughly deceived. Prompted by this revelation, she lodged a complaint against the trio at Shiroli Police Station. The police duly registered a case against all three accused under the relevant sections of the law. Following this, the accused were arrested and held in jail for one month; however, upon release, they resumed coercing and harassing the woman. A video of the victim went viral on social media, in which she stated, "I am a Hindu girl. I live in Kolhapur. I used to reside as a tenant in a property owned by Gaibisaab Dastagir Lengre. It is a fact that he is married and has two children, which he hid from me. Babyjaan Dastagir Lengre is his mother. Gaibisaab and his mother mentally and physically tortured me for the last four to five years. They forced me to convert to Islam and wear a burqa. I became fed up and filed a complaint with the police. They were imprisoned for one month, after which they were released and continued torturing me. A government that believes in Hindutva should provide me justice. If anything unfortunate happens to me, the Hindutva government and its administration must be held responsible."
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crime against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The 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. The other subcategory selected is- Forced conversion before marriage. The tertiary category selected is- Forced to wear Hijab. 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 other subcategory selected 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. Another primary category selected is- Predatory Proselytisation. The 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. This case is a clear example of an anti-Hindu hate crime. Firstly, the Hindu woman was deliberately lured into a relationship by a Muslim man, Gaibisaab Dastagir Lengre, who then forced her to convert to Islam and wear a burqa. It is essential to note that although the accused did not hide his Muslim identity, the nature of their relationship led the victim to believe that her Hindu faith would not be an obstacle to their romantic involvement. The accused then deliberately deceived her by concealing his marital status and exploiting her sexually over a prolonged period, under the false pretext of marriage. This was not merely a case of physical gratification but a directed, violent act targeting her religious identity. The victim was religiously profiled and specifically targeted because she was Hindu, making this sexual exploitation and assault a clear instance of a hate crime motivated by religious animosity. Secondly, the accused and his mother forced the Hindu woman to convert to Islam, wear a burqa, and don Islamic taabeez (amulets). Forcing a Hindu woman to convert constitutes a direct attack on her religious identity and violates her religious autonomy. Forced conversions infringe upon a person's fundamental right to freely practice their faith. This aspect of the case highlights its religiously motivated nature: the victim was targeted and abused specifically to compel her conversion to Islam. The act of forcing her to wear Islamic garments was an attempt to impose an Islamic lifestyle on her and erase her Hindu identity systematically. Such acts are rooted in deep-seated religious animosity towards the Hindu community and their faith, making it a religiously motivated offence. Additionally, the victim was subjected to Islamic occult practices and was threatened with death by the accused if she removed the amulet (taabeez). This use of religious intimidation and spiritual domination was intended to forcibly obliterate her original faith. The continuous harassment and coercion by the accused and his mother, even after they were imprisoned, demonstrate that harassment was weaponised to enforce religious conversion. Together, these elements establish the case as a distinct and severe religiously motivated hate crime against a Hindu woman. Given that this incident meets all the parameters of a religiously motivated offence, it has been included in the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of an incident based on when the crime actually occurred rather than when it is reported by the media. However, in this case, media reports do not specify the exact date when the victim's ordeal began; they only mention that exploitation started in 2019, and the media report was published on 30th August 2025. Based on this information, the Hinduphobia Tracker has selected 30th August 2019 as an indicative date for the incident to provide a reasonable and consistent reference point for documentation purposes.
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
Perpatrator released by Police
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
