Hindu woman raped, coerced into eating beef, and pressured to convert to Islam by Muslim man posing as Hindu
Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India 
31 December, 2006
Case Summary
A Hindu woman from Muzaffarpur filed a complaint with the Muzaffarpur Rural Superintendent of Police, stating that she was deceived, exploited, and pressured to convert by a man who hid his religious identity. She first met the man, Shamshad, in 2007 at a coaching institute, where he introduced himself as Suraj and concealed the fact that he was Muslim. Over time, a friendship developed, which later turned into a romantic relationship. In 2017, the woman moved to Delhi for a private job. After her mother passed away in August 2023, she returned to Muzaffarpur and met Shamshad again. He took her phone number and rekindled the relationship. During this period, he also took money from her on the pretext of his mother’s illness and his siblings’ education. On 12 April 2024, he took her on a bike trip to Patna. There, he brought her to a lodge and gave her juice mixed with drugs. When she lost consciousness, he raped her. After the incident, when she confronted him, he promised to marry her and reassured her with affectionate words, which led her to trust him again. However, when she started pressing for marriage, he kept making excuses, citing his mother’s illness or his sister’s upcoming wedding. Eventually, he revealed that his real name was Shamshad and said he would only marry her if she converted to Islam. He also told her that she must eat beef. When she refused, he used abusive language and threatened her. At one point, the woman went to Shamshad’s house to recover the money she had given him. There, she found out about his marriage. Shamshad, along with his brother, elder sister, and mother, verbally abused her and sent her away. She later submitted a police complaint. At the time of this report, the investigation was ongoing.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Forced conversion before marriage, and within it the tertiary categories selected are- Forced to eat beef. 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. The relationship in such cases is mostly 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. In such cases, 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 sub-category selected is- Blackmailed to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. 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 sub-category selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu, and within it, the tertiary categories selected are- Name Changed and Pattern of targeting Hindu women. When a non-Hindu man pretends to be a Hindu to deceive a Hindu woman into a relationship, the act is seen as triggered by malafide intentions. In some cases, the woman eventually accepts the man’s original religious identity and converts after the man’s identity is revealed. These cases could be argued as cases of religious brainwashing and a result of the pressure a woman feels after getting into a relationship with a man. The woman, it can be argued, also changed her religious identity because of the stigma she believes she might face if she chooses to walk out of a deceptive relationship. However, for the purpose of documenting hate crimes, the cases in this subcategory are limited to those where there is explicit violence aimed at religious conversion against the wishes of the victim (force-feeding beef, blackmailing with intimate videos, rape on refusal to convert, etc), or if the woman herself complains of the man’s religious deception. In such cases, it is established that the deception of the non-Hindu man had a specific aim of religious conversion or targeting of the victim due to her Hindu religious identity, therefore, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. The other sub-category 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. The other sub-category selected is- Brainwashed and/or Groomed, and within it, 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. This case exhibits multiple religious markers that clearly establish it as a religiously motivated crime specifically targeting a Hindu victim. Firstly, the accused, a Muslim man, deliberately concealed his religious identity to deceive the Hindu girl. This act itself demonstrates a clear bias and malicious intent towards the victim’s religion. By hiding his true identity, he manipulated her trust and targeted her under false pretences, indicating a premeditated effort to exploit her based on her religious background. Further, the violent and manipulative tactics used by Shamshad, such as rape, blackmail, and emotional manipulation, aimed at forcing her to abandon her Hindu beliefs, are indicative of a targeted assault on her religious identity. This is a hallmark of religiously motivated hate crimes, where the victim's religious identity is the focal point of the attack. The demand that the woman eat beef, a direct attack on her Hindu dietary practices, is a form of religious aggression aimed at forcing her to renounce her beliefs. In many instances of forced religious conversion, perpetrators impose practices that are antithetical to the victim’s faith, and here, Shamshad’s insistence on her consuming beef is a clear effort to degrade and subjugate her religious identity. Such coercion, especially when linked to a sexual assault, reflects the religious manipulation inherent in this case. Finally, Shamshad's threat and eventual abandonment of the woman upon her refusal to convert further exemplify the hate crime nature of this case. The nature of the demands, including the condition that she convert to Islam, eat beef, and marry him under Islamic law, proves that the case is a hate crime. Disclaimer: The available details suggest that the victim and the accused first came into contact in 2007, though the exact date and month are not provided. While the complaint was filed on April 21, 2025, a date from 2007 has been chosen to represent the year the ordeal began. Please note that this date is an approximation, as the precise day and month are not specified.
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 
