Hindu woman deceived, subjected to death threats, pressured for religious conversion and nikah by Muslim man faking Hindu identity

Case ID : d326e11 | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 30 June, 2024

Case ID : d326e11

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

30 June, 2024

Hindu woman deceived, subjected to death threats, pressured for religious conversion and nikah by Muslim man faking Hindu identity

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Forced conversion before marriage

Forced to go to Mosque

Forced to do Nikah

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a Hindu woman was deceived, subjected to death threats and pressured for religious conversion by a Muslim man named Abdul Wahid, who had introduced himself as a Hindu man. According to reports, the victim came into contact with the accused in the Tokkhurd Market, around one and a half years ago, in July 2024. During this time, the accused concealed his religious identity, introduced himself as a Hindu man named Raja Gurjar and proposed to her for marriage. Although she initially refused, he later contacted her repeatedly and coerced her by threatening to kill her family. He took her to a rented house in Dogar village, where he made her live with him, treated her as his wife, changed her name, and subjected her to sustained harassment and intimidation. The accused took her to a mosque and forcibly converted her to Islam, without her consent. He also changed her name to Zoya and attempted to arrange a nikah ceremony. When she refused outright, he continued to threaten her with violence. On 28 December 2025, when the victim asked him to leave, he became enraged. He then assaulted her and chased her with a knife, intending to kill her. Bystanders intervened and rescued her, after which she was taken to the hospital. Based on her statement, police registered charges of rape, fraud, assault, and forced religious conversion against the accused. The police arrested the accused and initiated further investigation into the incident.

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. 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 other sub-category selected here is - Forced conversion before marriage, with the tertiary category being - Forced to go to mosque and 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. The other sub-category selected here 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was lured into a relationship by the Muslim accused, who pretended to be Hindu. Firstly, the accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu woman. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and "ensnare" a Hindu individual is not just an act of personal betrayal but can also be interpreted as an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs that reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. Secondly, the accused threatened her and took her to a mosque, where he forcibly converted her to Islam. Pressuring a Hindu individual to discard her religious faith and embrace another is a direct attack on her religious identity and dignity. It was not a matter of personal choice; it was coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity. Such an attempt reflects religious animosity because the act was not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Thirdly, the accused took her to a rented house in Dogar village, where he made her live with him, treated her as his wife, changed her name, and subjected her to sustained harassment and intimidation. These actions were aimed at isolating her from her Hindu community and social circle. The intention was to break the victim down, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, so that she could be converted. This was not random violence; it was systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. Fourth, the accused also changed her name to Zoya, essentially giving her a Muslim name and identity, and attempted to arrange a nikah ceremony. In Islam, marriage to a non-Muslim partner is prohibited, which is why she was pressured for religious conversion. Furthermore, changing her name was an attempt to isolate her from her Hindu identity and community. It was a symbolic erasure of her previous Hindu identity by imposing an Islamic identity on her. Such manipulation reflects the deeper intent to sever the victim’s ties with her community and to normalise her new identity as a Muslim. Fifth, when the victim resisted the nikah, the accused threatened her with violence. This deliberate use of threats, coercion, and psychological and physical harassment to compel religious conversion and nikah revealed the depth of religious hatred and the calculated attempt to break the victim’s resolve through fear. By employing intimidation and psychological pressure as means of religious enforcement, the accused displayed complete disregard for her autonomy, faith, and safety. This exploitation were not random acts of crime; rather, they functioned as religiously motivated tools aimed at humiliating and dominating a Hindu girl because of her faith. The target was not the victim as an individual, but her Hindu identity. These threats and assaults were not isolated acts of hostility but were directly intended to make her yield to his demands. The threats against the victim stemmed from religious contempt and were aimed at forcing subjugation through conversion, thereby establishing the act as an anti-Hindu hate crime. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert. Such acts were not merely personal crimes; they were rooted in a desire to dominate and erase the religious identity of the victim. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, though it is mentioned that she came into contact with the accused in July 2024. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date—1 July 2024—as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 1 January 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.