Hindu man harassed for his religious identity by Muslim in-laws: Forcefully circumcised, OM tattoo removed and pressured to convert to Islam

Case ID : aa4b3d4 | Location : Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 3 April, 2023

Case ID : aa4b3d4

Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

3 April, 2023

Hindu man harassed for his religious identity by Muslim in-laws: Forcefully circumcised, OM tattoo removed and pressured to convert to Islam

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Forced to convert after marriage

Forced circumcision

Blackmailed to convert

Threatened to convert by family of partner

Case Summary

In the Abu Nagar area of Fatehpur district, a Hindu man named Kuldeep Kumar was threatened and pressured to abandon Hinduism and fully adopt Islam. According to the youth, he was circumcised, his “ॐ” (Om) tattoo forcefully removed, and forcibly converted to Islam by Muslim in-laws in 2023. The victim stated that he had a love marriage with a Muslim woman named Alifa, with the consent of her family. After their marriage, the Alfia's brother and mother, Sufiyan and Farida, began pressuring him to convert to Islam. They further demanded that he remove the OM symbol tattooed on his hand, which he later removed to avoid further domestic conflict. Despite this, his in-laws continued to instigate his wife against him, leading to regular domestic disputes. He said his in-laws kept inciting arguments between him and his wife over small issues. Under this constant pressure, he finally underwent circumcision about a year ago and was fully converted to Islam. On April 2, 2025, the couple had a son at Deva Nursing Home in Jwalaganj, after which Farida took Alfia to her home, saying she would return in a few days. She did not return, instead, Farida and Sufiyan denied the victim access to his child, saying that he should fully adhere to Islam. He was also given death threats if he did not comply. Furthermore, they also made attempts to change his name from Kuldeep to Rashid. As of the date of writing this report, a complaint was registered by the police, and the investigation was ongoing.

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 first sub-category selected is: - Forced to convert after marriage, with the tertiary sub-category being: - Forced circumcision. In such cases, a non-Hindu woman marries a Hindu man and the force/pressure against the Hindu man to convert to Islam begins after marriage. In such cases, the marriage is consensual in most cases and often, there is no element of the non-Hindu woman hiding her religious identity. The marriage could be under the Special Marriages Act where neither parties are required to convert their religion for the marriage to be considered legitimate. While the victim in such cases enters matrimony assuming that religious identity is not a barrier, the non-Hindu woman starts to pressure the Hindu man to convert to Islam after marriage. In such cases, there is application of force/pressure by the perpetrator, including, denial of the man’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the man is forced/pressured to convert include forcing/pressurizing the man to involuntarily consume beef, pressurizing/forcing to read the Kalma, forced circumcision, forced to go to the mosque, etc. There are several instances where after marriage, the man voluntarily converts to Islam. Such cases are often argued to be a result of religious brainwashing, however, for the purpose of documenting religiously motivated hate crimes, in the absence of the victim complaining of forced conversion, such cases do not form a part of the database. The second sub-category selected here is: - Blackmailed to convert. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is blackmailed to convert his religion. 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 woman starts blackmailing a Hindu man to convert his religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu man is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to his 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 third sub-category relevant here is: - Threatened to convert by family of partner. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man faces threats to convert and change his religious identity by the non-Hindu woman or her family. 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 to Islam and also assaults the victim to force him to convert. 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 man 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 man was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. This case is a religiously motivated hate crime as it involves coercion and sustained pressure on a Hindu man to abandon his faith by his Muslim in-law. The marriage had taken place with their full consent, and at the time, they had no objection to his Hindu religious identity. However, they later withdrew that acceptance and began forcing Kuldeep to convert to Islam. They, in fact, even brainwashed the victim's wife to make him convert his faith. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is considered invalid if a Muslim woman marries a non-Muslim man who does not convert to Islam. This belief often leads to severe disapproval from Muslim families in interfaith relationships, especially where the man is Hindu. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islamic doctrine, there is frequently intense pressure for the non-Muslim partner to convert. In many documented cases, this pressure manifests as harassment, emotional manipulation, and even violence. In this instance, there is a clear element of coercion to convert to Islam, thus, this case has been added to the tracker. Further, due to continuous domestic disputes over conversion, the Hindu man was forced to remove his OM tattoo. The OM symbol is a sacred and deeply revered symbol in Hinduism, associated with spiritual purity. Pressuring him to remove it is not only an attempt at religious conversion but also a clear display of hostility and contempt toward the Hindu faith. Thereafter, the religious motive of the crime becomes more apparent when he was forced to undergo circumcision and pressured to change his name to Rashid to fully erase his Hindu identity and cultural roots. Though circumcision is not a prerequisite to converting to Islam, however, it is often seen that it is used as an intimidatory tactic to make the Hindu victim abandon his/her professed religion and adopt the religion of the perpetrator. This sort of harassment is rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity. The accused, however, did not stop there; they used his son as a hostage and as a tool of blackmail to make him fully adhere to Islam. The use of blackmail to force conversion is a clear demonstration of religious hate, as it targets the victim's religious beliefs and seeks to erase her identity. This case is a glaring example of how deep-seated intolerance can manifest in violent and coercive actions, with the ultimate goal of religious subjugation and domination. The deliberate nature of the deception and the subsequent attempt to force conversion highlights the extent of disdain the accused harboured for the victim's faith, making this a clear case of religiously motivated hate. Disclaimer: Media reports state that the victim’s ordeal began on April 4, 2023, when he married the Muslim woman with her family's consent. To document this case, we have used this date as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on May 25, 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.