Hindu man trapped, converted and forcibly circumcised by Muslim woman in Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : d3270b3 | Location : Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 12 January, 2026

Case ID : d3270b3

Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh, India

12 January, 2026

Hindu man trapped, converted and forcibly circumcised by Muslim woman in Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Victim says was brainwashed/groomed

Case Summary

A Hindu man was deceived and forcibly converted to Islam by a muslim woman and remained trapped for 15 years. In Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu man named Gopi Ahirwar alias Deen Mohammad, aged 62, was forcibly converted to Islam by a Muslim woman named Reshma, aged 40, wife of Ahsan Ali, a resident of Karamchandrapurwa, Tehsil Kalpi. Gopi had lost his wife and lived alone, which left him emotionally vulnerable. The Muslim woman, Reshma, approached Gopi with calculated intent to trap him. She built trust with him and emotionally engaged with him, drawing him into dependency. Reshma deliberately observed his financial condition and loneliness. Once she had gained his confidence, she took him away from his Hindu village to Vinay Nagar, Kalindari School, Haryana, Faridabad. There she converted Gopi and changed his name to Deen Mohammad. During this time, two bighas of his land were sold for ten lakh rupees, the proceeds of which were to be divided equally between two brothers, but Reshma usurped the entire amount. He was then forcibly circumcised under duress and threats. Since then, he had been forced to live under a Muslim name for fifteen years, under fear and pressure. During this period, he had attempted to return to his village and to register a complaint, but he was threatened with death. However, his name remained listed as Hindu in government documents, as Gopi Ahirwar. The victim, fed up with the harassment, then approached workers of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Hindu Uthan Seva Samiti and explained the situation. Upon knowledge of the whole situation, the Vishva Hindu Parishad demanded from the administration security of his life, arrest of the accused woman, placing his mobile number under surveillance, and strict legal action in the case of forced religious conversion. Superintendent of Police Dr Durgesh Kumar stated that the case was being investigated seriously. Further legal action would be taken based on the facts that emerged from the investigation. The case pertained to the Orai Police Station area, and investigations were ongoing on all aspects.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected is Predatory Proselytisation. The secondary categories selected are: 'Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion' Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds, which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision, etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases, where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion, are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The second sub-category selected is: Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Tertiary Category: 'Victim says was brainwashed/groomed' Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting, regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to the existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. It has multiple religious markers that indicate coercion aimed at erasing a Hindu man’s religious identity and imposing an Islamic identity through fear, fraud, and bodily violation. Forced conversion to Islam: The core marker is the reported conversion of a Hindu man to Islam through deception, coercion, and intimidation. Conversion obtained by pressure and threats is not a personal choice or interfaith relationship. It is an attack on religious autonomy, where the victim’s Hindu identity is treated as something to be broken and replaced. Renaming and enforced Islamic identity: Changing the victim’s name from Gopi Ahirwar to “Deen Mohammad” is a strong marker of identity replacement. Renaming is used here as a tool of religious erasure, forcing the victim to publicly live under an imposed Islamic identity for years and cutting him off from his original community and faith. Circumcision under duress: The reported forced circumcision is a severe religious marker because it is a bodily imposition tied to religious conformity. When performed under threat, it becomes violence designed to permanently mark the victim’s body to reflect the imposed faith, making exit harder and reinforcing control. Threats to prevent return to Hindu life: The repeated death threats when the victim tried to return or complain function as religious captivity. The purpose is not only to silence him legally, but to keep him trapped in an imposed Islamic identity and away from his Hindu social and religious environment. Exploitation of vulnerability as a conversion tactic: The victim’s loneliness after bereavement is described as the opening used to gain dependency and control. Using emotional vulnerability to push conversion is a recognised marker of predatory proselytisation. The religious aspect is that the relationship is allegedly instrumental, serving conversion and control rather than mutual consent. Religiously linked material coercion: The reported usurpation of land sale proceeds works as a pressure mechanism. Economic stripping increases dependency, reduces the ability to escape, and strengthens coercive control. When combined with forced conversion and threats, it supports a pattern of subjugation tied to the victim’s religious identity. Taken together, forced conversion, enforced renaming, forced circumcision, sustained threats to prevent return, and coercive exploitation of vulnerability indicate a religiously motivated offence targeting a Hindu individual for identity erasure and compelled conformity. These markers support classification as a hate crime because the alleged conduct aims to subjugate the victim’s Hindu identity and impose Islam through intimidation, bodily coercion, and long-term control. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media - 13 January, 2026.