Hindu man lured with inducements and assaulted for refusing conversion by Muslim man in Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Case ID : d32736b | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 26 December, 2025

Case ID : d32736b

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

26 December, 2025

Hindu man lured with inducements and assaulted for refusing conversion by Muslim man in Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for refusal to convert

Case Summary

In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a 22-year-old Hindu man named Naveen was targeted, lured with inducements and harassed for religious conversion by a Muslim man named Arif Shah. According to the complaint filed by the victim, Naveen, a resident of Ganeshpuri Colony, the accused, Arif Shah, a resident of Sanwer, frequently visited his home. During this time, the accused developed a close relationship with the victim's family, after which he began pressuring the victim to convert. The victim stated that in December 2025, Arif Shah first asked him to convert to Islam by offering him money, a job, and social respect. When the victim refused to convert, the accused intensified the pressure by discussing circumcision and other Islamic religious practices, simultaneously pressuring him to convert and undergo circumcision. Frustrated by the continuous pressure to convert, Naveen moved to Ujjain to seek employment. On 26 January 2026, when Naveen returned to Indore, he again encountered Arif Shah, who again pressured him to convert. When the victim refused, a dispute broke out in which the victim was brutally assaulted for refusing to convert. Distressed by the repeated coercion and violence, the victim approached members of Hindu organisations, who accompanied him to the police station and helped him file a complaint. Based on the complaint, Khajrana police registered an FIR under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, arrested the accused, and initiated an investigation to examine the full extent of the activities and the possible involvement of others.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been documented under the selected primary category: Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the selected secondary category is: Conversion/attempts to convert by inducement. Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force, and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases, therefore, are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity The other sub-category selected here is - 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 primary category selected here is - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected is 'Attacked for refusal to convert. When there is pressure, threat or coercion employed upon the Hindu victim to convert to a different religion, in several cases, the victim refuses to succumb to the pressure/threats. Once the victim refuses, the perpetrator proceeds to attack/assault the victim owing to his/her refusal to convert. In such cases, the pressure/threat/intimidation/coercion/violence itself is driven by animosity towards the victim’s Hindu faith. The violence then is another hate crime driven by the victim’s refusal to abandon his professed faith, Hinduism, and convert to the religion of a non-Hindu perpetrator. Since the victim’s faith is at the heart of the pressure to convert and the ensuing violence towards the victim, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes This case has been added to the tracker because the victim, Naveen, was targeted, lured with inducements and harassed for religious conversion by a Muslim man named Arif Shah. Firstly, the victim was targeted and lured with inducements for conversion. Offering incentives or making false promises, especially when directed at vulnerable individuals in need, shows that these incentives are not acts of kindness or charity. Instead, they are calculated moves to exploit vulnerable Hindus because of their religion. By providing inducements in exchange for conversion, the accused were effectively blackmailing those who might have been desperate for assistance or hope. This form of coercion strips people of their agency and dignity and results in coerced conversions. Secondly, when the inducements failed, the accused began harassing and pressuring the victim to convert. Pressuring or harassing a Hindu individual to discard his religious faith and embrace another was a direct attack on his 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. This systematic attempt to erode the religious foundation of individuals and replace it with allegiance to another faith reflects deep religious malice and animus against the Hindu identity. Because the core motivation of the act stems from hostility toward the victim’s religion, it meets the threshold of a hate crime. Thirdly, when the victim refused to convert, the accused resorted to physical violence. The violence occurred directly as a consequence of his refusal to abandon Hinduism, indicating that the assault functioned as punishment for resisting conversion. It was a deliberate attempt to punish and intimidate the victim for adhering to his religion and not converting. Attacking a Hindu individual just for refusing conversion showcases the intensity with which the perpetrators would go to enforce conversions, making it a religiously motivated offence. 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 the accused pressured him to convert in December 2025. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date, 27 December 2025, as a placeholder to represent the beginning of his suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 27 January 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.