Hindu woman commits suicide after being deceived by Muslim man as Hindu, forced to convert and marry

Case Summary
A 24-year-old Hindu woman, Hema, died by suicide in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, after being harassed and pressured by Gulfam, who initially hid his Muslim identity and introduced himself as Sonu. Hema, originally from Bisalpur in Pilibhit district, had moved to Harungala in Bareilly to pursue employment and support her family financially. She was learning tailoring and embroidery under a skill development program and pursuing a Basic Training Certificate (BTC) to become a teacher. Gulfam befriended Hema under a false identity and later began pressuring her to marry him and convert to Islam. Hema’s family had recently arranged her marriage to a man from their community, which angered Gulfam. He continued to harass her, demanding that she end the engagement, convert to Islam, and marry him. Hema’s family confirmed she was happy with the engagement and had started preparations for her wedding. Despite her disinterest in Gulfam and refusal to convert, he persisted, leaving her deeply distressed. Unable to cope with the constant harassment, Hema took her life. The police registered a case against Gulfam based on the family’s complaint. Inspector Sunil Kumar, in charge of Baradari police station, confirmed the incident and stated that Gulfam was arrested.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added as a religiously motivated hate crime to the database under the category- Crimes against Hindu women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the first prime category selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. Further, under this, a tertiary category selected is- Name changed. 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 selected here is- Forced conversion before marriage. 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 third sub-category selected here is- Suicide for being forced to or pressured to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with a non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces pressure/threats/violence to convert and change her religious identity 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. In some of these cases, unable to bear the pressure/threat/violence being mounted by the non-Hindu partner to convert, the Hindu woman commits suicide. In such cases, often, threats are also given to the family members of the Hindu woman. Since such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim, leading to the woman committing suicide, these cases are categorized as a hate crime. Here, a Hindu girl committed suicide after a Muslim youth constantly harassed her and pressured her to convert to Islam and marry him. The woman was getting married to a man from her community but the constant pressure being exerted on her to convert and marry by the Muslim accused forced her to take her life. The Muslim youth's demand for the Hindu girl to convert to Islam and perform Nikah (an Islamic marriage) is not just a personal request but a coercive attempt to strip her of her religious identity. The constant harassment she faced makes it clear that this was not just about a relationship but about enforcing religious conformity through fear. The girl’s refusal to convert represents her right to practice her faith, a fundamental human right. The threats and harassment for exercising this right are a blatant attack on her religious freedom. By pushing her towards conversion, the perpetrator aimed to forcefully erase her religious identity, which is a form of religious persecution, stemming from the deep disdain that the perpetrator held for the victim's faith, Hinduism. Since the central motivation was religion, this case has been added as a hate crime.
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
Arrested

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