Hindu transgenders coerced to convert to Islam; brutally attacked with swords and threatened for resisiting conversion attempts
Amravati, Maharashtra, India 
15 November, 2023
Case Summary
In Amravati, several members of the kinnar (transgender) community belonging to the Hindu Maratha group reported that they were attacked with swords and threatened with death by Muslims who were pressuring them to accept Islam. The victims stated that the assailants told them they would not be allowed to live or work in the city unless they adopted Muslim customs and religious practices. The victims added that they were subjected to repeated intimidation, including verbal abuse, forced participation in Islamic prayers, and confiscation of their earnings. They claimed that one of the accused, identified as Rafiq alias Sona Bai, and others often threatened them with weapons and chased them in public. They further said that despite the availability of CCTV footage, police action had not yet been taken. Their community leader, Mahamandaleshwar Matangeshwari (Rekha Pundalikrao Patil), reported that she and her disciples had been converted to Islam under pressure in 2023 but later returned to their original faith during Mahakumbh at Prayagraj in 2025. After their reconversion, they were attacked. Matangeshwari said she received repeated death threats warning her not to leave Islam. The victims sought help from BJP Rajya Sabha MP Dr Anil Bonde, who met them, listened to their statements, and promised to raise the issue with the Maharashtra Chief Minister and the Police Commissioner of Amravati. He named three individuals—Rafiq alias Sona Bai, Chhotu alias Mamtabai, and Parveen Jaan—as accused in the attacks. He also urged the authorities to provide protection to the victims and take legal action against those responsible.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the first primary category: Predatory Proselytisation. The sub-category selected 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. The second primary selected is: Attack not resulting in death. 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. In this case, the Hindu transgenders were subjected to extreme violent coercion, including death threats, physical assaults, extortion, and humiliation, solely because they refused to accept Islam. Their religious identity was directly targeted, and the harassment aimed to break their resolve to remain Hindu. The acts were not generic crimes but religiously motivated attempts to forcefully change their belief system. Such intimidation worked, and some victims succumbed to the pressure and converted. The accused had explicitly demanded that the victims stop worshipping Hindu gods and accept Islamic customs, showing clear contempt for Hindu faith and practices. This attempt to convert them was not neutral but rooted in religious hatred, where their gods and religious practices were targeted. When the victims realised that they didn't relate to the imposed faith and tried to come back into the Sanatan fold, they were attacked by the Mulsim fanatics. This is not an isolated incident. The testimonies reveal that such targeting has been occurring for several years, including an earlier case where a Hindu transgender person was thrown from a train and converted out of fear. The repeated use of deception, manipulation, and religious coercion, coupled with threats of violence, points to a systematic attempt to eradicate Hindu identity within the transgender community. The abuse of emotional and social vulnerability to coerce Hindus into changing their faith constitutes religious grooming, and the consistent pattern of targeting Hindus confirms that this is not a general community dispute but a religiously motivated hate crime rooted in deep-seated hostility toward Hindu dharma. When individuals are attacked simply for opposing religious persecution or defending fellow Hindus, the violence becomes a clear expression of religiously motivated hate. Hence, this incident qualifies as a hate crime against Hindus, as it involves the deliberate targeting of Hindu individuals for their religious identity. The victims were harassed, assaulted, and coerced to abandon their ancestral faith and subjected to ongoing threats and violence. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported. Media reports do not mention when the pressure to convert started, only stating that the Mahamandaleshwar of the community was converted in 2023, though no exact date or month is provided. To document this case, we have used an indicative date and month of reporting: 16th November 2023, as a placeholder to represent the beginning of the coercion.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
third
Sources 
