Hindu woman lured into marriage by Muslim man posing as Hindu; beaten and forced to adopt Islam after marriage

Case Summary
A Hindu woman has accused her Muslim husband, Rehman, of deceptively marrying her, pretending to be a Hindu, then forcefully converting her to Islam and eventually trying to sell her. According to reports, Sangeeta, who originally hailed from Nepal, was deceived by a Muslim man who hid his true religious identity. She was led to believe he belonged to her faith and subsequently married him. After marriage, the accused took the Hindu victim to Hyderabad where he revealed his true identity and pressured her to convert to Islam. Sangeeta eventually succumbed to this pressure, adopting the name Salma. After the conversion, efforts were made to isolate Sangeeta from her family and cultural roots. In Hyderabad, Rehman also tried to sell Sangeeta. Further, Rehman's father Mohammad Sonu also wanted to forcefully have physical relations with Sangeeta. When Sangeeta opposed this, Rehman and his father Mohammad Sonu started beating her. The victim said that she somehow escaped from Hyderabad and reached Delhi to her friend's house. After this, she came to Bhagalpur and filed a police complaint. Sangeeta, who has now been married to the accused for 10 years and also has a son from her marriage to Rehman, said that her ordeal began with deception. Rehman concealed his true religion at the time of marriage, defrauding her into a union she would not have consented to otherwise. Over the years, Sangeeta endured persistent harassment. After enduring a decade of abuse and betrayal, Sangeeta has decided to part ways with Rehman.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the database under the prime category of- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the first sub-category selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. 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 second sub-category relevant to the above-mentioned category is- Forced conversion after marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man marries a Hindu woman and the force/pressure 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 man hiding his 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 man starts to pressure the woman to convert to Islam after marriage. In such cases, there is application of force by the perpetrator, including, denial of the woman’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the woman is forced/pressured to convert include force-feeding beef, forced to read the Kalma, forced to wear a hijab, forced for Halala, etc. There are several instances where after marriage, the woman 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 third sub-category under which this case has been placed 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. First, the perpetrator's deliberate deception by assuming a false identity as a Hindu reflects a calculated attempt to exploit the woman's religious background. By posing as someone who shares her faith, he manipulated the victim's trust and violated her ability to make informed decisions about her relationships. This deception is not just a personal betrayal but a targeted attack on her religious identity, as the woman's trust was built on the belief that she was marrying someone from her religious community. Second, the forced conversion to Islam also underscores the religious dimension of the crime. The fact that the woman was pressured to abandon her faith and adopt another religion against her will is a clear violation of her religious freedom. Conversion through coercion is a severe infringement on her rights and autonomy. The use of force or manipulation to change someone's religion is a manifestation of religious intolerance and an attempt to erase the victim's original cultural and religious 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.
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
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male