Hindu woman befriended, held hostage, and raped by Muslim man posing as Hindu, coerced to convert to Islam and do Nikah
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India 
3 June, 2020
Case Summary
In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a married Hindu woman was befriended and then raped by a Muslim man named Bhayyu Khan, who posed as a Hindu named, Sandeep, to trap her. The accused subsequently threatened and assaulted the woman, demanding that she convert to Islam and marry him. Media reports suggest that five years ago, the woman's husband introduced his friend Bhayyu Khan to their home. Bhayyu posed as Sandeep, wearing a kalawa and tilak to convince the woman and her husband that he was Hindu. He began communicating frequently with the woman and eventually persuaded her to accompany him to Mandav. Under the pretext of taking her to Mandav, he instead took her to his home in Atal Colony, Malwa, where he held her hostage and raped her multiple times, subsequently forcing her to convert to Islam and marry him. Bhayyu's brother, Kayyum Khan, also participated in assaulting the woman and coercing her to convert and perform nikah with Bhayyu. The woman was held captive and raped repeatedly for five years. Bhayyu also took her to the Agar Malwa court and forcibly made her sign various documents. Reports indicate that both Bhayyu and Kayyum were involved in producing counterfeit currency. During this period, Bhayyu was arrested once, and Kayyum continued to keep the woman under surveillance and raped her multiple times. The woman eventually found an opportunity to escape and returned to Indore, where she sought help from the Hindu Jagran Manch. Together with the Hindu Jagran Manch, she filed a complaint at the local police station. The Hindu Jagran Manch stated that the victim is terrified of the perpetrators and noted that both perpetrators have previously been imprisoned three times for producing counterfeit currency. The police registered a case in this matter and arrested the two accused, Bhayyu and Kayyum Khan.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. Within this, the tertiary category selected is- 'Name changed' and 'Wears symbols of Hinduism'. 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. Another subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or groomed. Within this, the tertiary category selected is- Rape and sexual assault/ harassment. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. Another subcategory selected is- Forced conversion before marriage. Within this, the tertiary category selected is- Forced to do Nikah. 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. In such cases, typically, two patterns emerge. First, when the relationship is 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. The second is when the woman gets into a marriage with the man pretending to share her faith. Later, when the truth is revealed, the man starts pressuring the woman to convert her religion and give up her religious identity. In both the situations, 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. Another subcategory selected 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. Another subcategory selected 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. In this case, the victim is a Hindu woman who was befriended by a Muslim man and targeted specifically because of her religion. This is evident from the perpetrator’s decision to pretend to be Hindu in order to gain her trust. He wore Hindu religious symbols such as a kalawa and tilak to convince the woman that he was Hindu. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust and targeted her under false pretences, demonstrating a premeditated plan to manipulate her based on her religious background. The use of Hindu religious symbols was used with the intent to reinforce his fabricated identity. The perpetrator was aware that the victim, being a Hindu woman, would not have fallen into his trap if she had known his real identity. Therefore, he targeted her by masquerading as a Hindu man. This demonstrates that the crime was religiously motivated, and the woman was religiously profiled and then targeted. After befriending and manipulating the woman through deceit, the perpetrator, along with his brother, held her hostage for 5 years, raped her multiple times, and forced her to convert to Islam and marry him. This further underscores the religious aspect of the case. The accused deceived her, held her hostage under the false pretext of taking her to Mandav, and then raped her. These actions were carried out to further the underlying agenda of religious conversion and marriage under Islamic law. The victim was profiled, deceived, and sexually exploited in an attempt to compel her to convert to the perpetrator’s faith. This is a clear example of deception and manipulation to further religious conversion, rooted in prejudice against the victim and her Hindu faith. In such cases, sexual violence is used as a tool to subjugate and intimidate the victim into submission; the main aim is to alienate the victim from her faith. These actions stem from animosity towards the victim’s religious identity. This case is therefore an event motivated by religious animosity towards the Hindu woman due to her faith. The Muslim perpetrators also assaulted and threatened the victim for refusing to convert to Islam. Such use of violence and threats to further the religious conversion is designed to break the victim’s resistance, and this attack is directly linked to her religious identity and her refusal to change it. These instances highlight even more clearly that the act was not an isolated incident of manipulation and sexual exploitation, but rather a premeditated move to exploit the Hindu woman because of her religious identity. Furthermore, the abuse did not stop at threats and physical assaults. When the woman refused to convert, both Muslim perpetrators resorted to sexual violence as a means of coercion and punishment. This horrific act was not only a violation of her body, but also an attempt to break her spirit and force her into submission. The use of rape as a weapon in this context is particularly cruel, as it is intended to degrade and control the victim, sending a message that her refusal to convert to Islam would be met with the most severe consequences. This form of coercion through rape makes the religious motivation behind the crime even more evident. The act of faking one’s identity to befriend the victim, holding her hostage for a prolonged period, committing rape, demanding conversion to Islam and marriage, assaulting and further raping the Hindu victim when she refused to convert, glaringly demonstrates the religiously motivated nature of the crime. Therefore, it is being added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: Media sources covering this case have not specified the exact date when the victim’s ordeal began. The earliest indication is that the victim was befriended five years ago. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported, an indicative date of 4th June 2020 has been used, although the media reported the incident on 4th June 2025.
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
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
