Hindu woman living-in with Muslim partner found dead, family says boyfriend hid his identity to trap her and later killed her

Case Summary
A young Hindu woman's body was found hanging in a rented room in Bareilly, where she had been living with her boyfriend. The boyfriend, identified as Gulfam, fled the scene. The woman's family stated that Gulfam initially hid his identity and later killed her. The woman, from Mahua village in Pilibhit, was pursuing a sewing course in Bareilly under the Kaushal Vikas Yojana. During this time, she met Gulfam, who introduced himself as Sonu. They entered a relationship and started living together six months ago. The family stated that when the woman discovered Gulfam’s true identity, conflicts arose. They accused him of strangling her and staging her death as a suicide before fleeing. The incident came to light when the landlord grew suspicious after the room remained locked for an extended time. Upon peeking through a window, he saw the woman’s body hanging inside and informed the police. The room was locked from the outside. The police and forensic team arrived, broke open the door, and recovered the body. SP City Manush Parik stated that the postmortem would determine whether it was a case of murder or suicide. Gulfam, who worked at a private hospital, remained untraceable, and the police initiated a search based on the family's complaint.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The case has been added to the tracker under the category of- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the first sub-category selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. Under this, the two tertiary categories chosen are- 'Name changed' and 'Raped and/or murdered after Hindu woman finds out real identity'. 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 category selected here is- Attack resulting in death and under this, 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, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. In this case, the family of the deceased victim, a young Hindu woman, testified that she entered a relationship with Gulfam under the false belief that he shared her religious identity. When she discovered his true identity, conflicts reportedly arose, culminating in her tragic death. This pattern—where a man's deception regarding his religion is followed by violence when the woman learns the truth—illustrates targeted manipulation rooted in religious animosity. The sequence of events suggests that the victim's Hindu identity became the focal point of the accused's hostility, as evidenced by the reported conflict following her realisation of his true identity. The act of staging the victim’s death as a suicide further underscores the malicious intent behind the crime, amplifying its gravity as a hate crime. The deliberate exploitation of the victim's trust, rooted in religious deception, and the subsequent violence, reflect targeted hostility against her Hindu identity and this is why, this case has been added to the database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
1
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 registered

Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male