After reverting to Hinduism, woman and her Hindu husband targeted and threatened with death by her Muslim family

Case ID : a049413 | Location : Panipat, Haryana, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 11 November, 2025

Case ID : a049413

Panipat, Haryana, India

11 November, 2025

After reverting to Hinduism, woman and her Hindu husband targeted and threatened with death by her Muslim family

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Panipat, Haryana, a Hindu man named Vicky and his wife, who had returned to Hinduism, were subjected to death threats by the wife's Muslim family over their interfaith relationship. According to reports, the Hindu man, Vicky, a resident of the Old Industry police station area, was in a love relationship with a Muslim woman. The couple eloped and got married as per Hindu rituals at an Arya Samaj mandir in Delhi. During this time, the Muslim woman returned to Hinduism and presented documented proof of her embracing Hinduism during the wedding ceremony. After the wedding, the couple returned to Panipat, where the woman’s Muslim family reacted with hostility and began issuing death threats to the couple, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Distressed by the situation, the couple approached the Superintendent of Police and requested immediate police protection, citing threats to their life. Acting on the SP’s direction, the police provided security and moved them to a protection home to ensure their safety. As of the date of writing this report, the investigation was ongoing, and police stated that they would record statements of both before taking further legal action.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the partner or/and her family attacks the victim. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman or her family starts forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman or her family. The force/pressure could involve threats. The trigger for directing violence against the Hindu man is in these cases his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is assaulted by the non-Hindu woman or her family simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the attack is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The other primary category selected here is - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime under this category. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu man and his wife, who returned to Hinduism from being a Muslim, were subjected to death threats by the wife's Muslim family over their interfaith relationship. This case is a clear instance of religiously motivated violence targeting a Hindu man for being in a consensual interfaith relationship with a Muslim woman. It is important to note here that both the man and the woman involved in the relationship were adults and capable of making their own decisions and life choices. In fact, the Muslim woman returned to Hinduism of her own free will. Despite this, the couple were subjected to death threats by the woman's Muslim family. Such actions go far beyond personal outrage and reflect a deeper religious hostility. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is deemed illegitimate if the non-Muslim partner does not convert to Islam. For those who practice the faith, when their daughter marries a Hindu man without the man converting to Islam, the difference in religions followed becomes the main point of disapproval for the family of the Muslim woman. In this case, the Muslim woman actually returned to Hinduism, which further fuelled the aggression. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islam, even if the motivations are not explicit, it can reasonably be concluded that the determining factor of such hostility was the couple's interfaith relationship, the victim's Hindu identity and the Muslim woman's embracing Hinduism. This incident falls into a broader and disturbing pattern where Hindu men are targeted specifically for being in relationships with Muslim women. These assaults or hostility are often framed as matters of "honour," but the underlying motivation is deeply religious. In many such cases, the religious identity of the Hindu male partner, or his family, becomes the key trigger for violence, especially when there is no conversion to Islam. Even if conversion is not directly demanded in every case, the death threats or violence are often aimed at punishing the Hindu man for not adhering to Islamic norms in the context of a relationship with a Muslim woman. In this case, the death threats issued by the Muslim family were clearly rooted in religious animosity against the couple's Hindu identity, since the Muslim woman also embraced Hinduism. Their actions were not driven by concern for the woman's well-being, who had, anyway, consented to the marriage, but by anger over a Hindu man marrying a Muslim woman without religious conversion. This makes it not just a case of familial opposition, but a hate crime motivated by religious bigotry. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media - 12 November 2025. Disclaimer: Since the Muslim woman returned to Hinduism, the victim count had been recorded as two.