Hindu widow lured into a relationship by Muslim man posing as Hindu, pressured to convert to Islam after his identity is revealed

Case ID : b45f692 | Location : Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 11 January, 2025
Case ID : b45f692
location Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh, India
date 11 January, 2025
Hindu widow lured into a relationship by Muslim man posing as Hindu, pressured to convert to Islam after his identity is revealed
Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes
Rape for refusal to convert
Forced conversion before marriage
Torture of family to force woman to convert
Man pretends to be Hindu
Name Changed
Raped and/or murdered after Hindu woman finds out real identity

Case Summary

A Muslim man, Saddam, posed as a Hindu named Abhishek to deceive and exploit a widow in the Robertsganj Kotwali area of Sonbhadra. The woman, who lost her husband in an accident in 2013, had been living at her maternal home. In 2016, while visiting her aunt, she met Saddam, who introduced himself as Abhishek. The two began communicating regularly, and Saddam promised to marry her. During their relationship, Saddam reportedly made false promises of marriage and sexually exploited the woman. He secretly recorded a video of her and used it to blackmail her. When she became pregnant, he forced her to abort the child. Later, the woman discovered his true identity as Saddam and realized he had deceived her. Following this revelation, Saddam pressured her to convert to Islam before marriage. In September, he called her near his house, sexually harassed her, and physically assaulted her when she demanded marriage. The woman filed a complaint, stating that Saddam threatened to harm her son if she reported him. She provided the police with a recording of his threats. Despite her efforts to seek help from the Kotwali police and even sending a letter to the SP office on September 23, no immediate action was taken. Eventually, on court orders, the Robertsganj Kotwali police registered a case against Saddam under relevant sections and began an investigation.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The case has been added to the tracker 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. Within this, the tertiary categories selected 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 sub-category under which this case has been placed 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 relevant in this case is- Torture of family to force woman to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is forced to convert her religion. Several methods are used for such forced conversion. The non-Hindu man is often documented to issue threats and even employ violence. One of the ways used by such perpetrators is threatening and/or torturing the family members of the Hindu woman to pressure her to convert. The perpetrators in such cases issue threats to harm or torture the family of the woman. In some cases, there is also violence directed towards the family to force the Hindu woman to convert. Such crimes aim to blackmail the victim into changing her religion by inducing fear of harm to her family. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Finally, the fourth sub-category selected here is- Rape for refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with 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 pressuring the Hindu woman to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim man could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. As the case may be, in such cases, the non-Hindu man forces himself sexually on the Hindu woman when she refuses his advances and pressures to convert her religion. The rape of the woman is often seen as either a punishment for the woman refusing 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. The first element in this incident that demonstrates that the Muslim perpetrator Saddam committed the crime while harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith is that he posed as a Hindu named Abhishek to gain the trust of the Hindu woman. This act of impersonation indicates a deliberate strategy to exploit the woman by preying on her religious identity and her trust by pretending to share her faith. Secondly, the Muslim perpetrator made false promises of marriage and sexually exploited the woman. He secretly recorded a video of her and used it to blackmail her. The exploitation, including sexual harassment and forced abortion, was compounded by the religious dynamic when the victim discovered the deception and was coerced to convert. The recording of intimate videos and subsequent blackmail, combined with the demand for religious conversion, reveals a systematic exploitation of the victim, not just as an individual but as someone targeted because of her Hindu faith. Further, Saddam raped her and threatened to harm the woman’s son if she reported him. This physical assault, coupled with threats, highlights the religiously motivated coercion and the intent to dominate and disenfranchise the victim from her religious identity. These markers collectively demonstrate that Saddam's actions were not merely criminal but were deeply rooted in religiously motivated exploitation and hostility toward the victim's Hindu identity and this is why this case deserves to be documented in the Hinduphobia tracker.

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 Background
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Case Status


Arrested

Case Status Background
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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Muslim Extremists

Perpetrators Range


One Person

Perpetrators Gender


male

Case Details SVG
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