Hindu woman deceived into relationship, pressured for religious conversion and brutally assaulted upon refusal by Muslim man posing as Hindu
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India 
3 February, 2020
Case Summary
In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a Hindu woman was lured, impregnated and pressured to convert to Islam by a Muslim man named Mohammad Zeeshan alias Yaseen. The accused deceived the victim by posing as a Hindu man named Yash Chauhan. The victim was also subjected to brutal physical assault when she refused to convert to Islam. According to reports, the victim came into contact with the accused in 2020 while working at a cosmetics shop in the Patnipura area. She used to commute daily in a city van driven by the accused. During this time, the accused introduced himself to the victim as a Hindu man named Yash Chauhan. Over time, he gradually lured her into a relationship, promised marriage and took her to a rented house in the Musakhedi area, where he established a sexual relationship with her. When the victim became pregnant, he continued to reassure her that he would marry her and took her to Kannod town, Madhya Pradesh, where she discovered that his real name was Mohammad Zeeshan, alias Mohammad Yaseen Memon, and that he was a Muslim. After she learned the truth, she refused to marry him. However, enraged by this, he threatened to kill her and her unborn child, forcing her to continue living with him under fear and intimidation. She gave birth to a son in April 2021, after which the accused said that he would adopt the son only on the condition that she convert to Islam. When she refused, the accused subjected her to repeated physical assaults, threats and psychological abuse. By October 2025, she began living separately with her child, yet the accused continued to harass and threaten her. On 19 January 2026, the accused again came to her house, where he again pressured her to convert to Islam. When she refused, he assaulted her with extreme brutality, smashing her head against a wall and causing serious injuries. Thereafter, he abandoned her and absconded. The woman was hospitalised at the Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital and remained there for nearly ten days due to the severity of her injuries. After recovering, she approached Hindu organisations for assistance and subsequently filed a police complaint. The police registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to rape, aggravated sexual exploitation and criminal intimidation, along with provisions of the Religious Freedom Act, and initiated legal proceedings against the accused.
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. The subcategory selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary category selected is- Name Changed. 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 subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or Groomed. 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. The other sub-category selected here 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. 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. The other sub-category selected here is - Leaves Hindu partner upon 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. However, when the Hindu woman refuses to convert, the non-Hindu man ends the relationship or divorces the woman, as the case might be. 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 change her religious identity and upon her refusal, ends the relationship. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force, or threat after she refuses to convert to Islam, are not considered a part of the hate tracker. The second primary category selected here is - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected here is - Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime under this category. The other sub-category selected here 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 constituted a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime, as a Hindu woman was lured, impregnated and pressured to convert to Islam by the Muslim accused, Mohammad Zeeshan, who faked a Hindu identity. Firstly, the perpetrator 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 the victim's 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. In such instances, identity concealment is not just a deceptive tactic for personal reasons but a calculated strategy rooted in religious profiling and targeting. The accused knew that the victim, being Hindu, would likely refuse his advances if she knew his real identity, and he circumvented this by lying, which directly pointed to a religiously driven intent. Secondly, after establishing control over the victim, the accused sexually exploited her and impregnated her by falsely claiming that he would marry her, while knowing he would not marry her until she converted. The sexual exploitation was inseparable from its religious dimension, as intimacy and pregnancy were used to entrap the victim and render her vulnerable to coercion. The sexual exploitation served as a means of coercion and domination, aimed at breaking the victim’s autonomy and rendering her vulnerable to further religious subjugation. The subsequent demand for conversion demonstrated that the abuse was not random but directed at undermining the victim’s Hindu identity. Thirdly, the accused persistently pressured the victim to convert to Islam, framing conversion as a precondition for legitimacy, security and acceptance. Pressuring a Hindu individual to discard her 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 is not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Often in such cases, sexual violence and impregnation are intended to physically subjugate the victim woman and make her emotionally dependent. This was not random; it was systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. Fourth, when the victim refused to convert, the accused escalated the coercion into extreme physical violence, brutally assaulting her as a direct punitive response to her refusal to abandon her Hindu faith. The violence was not incidental but was inflicted specifically because she resisted conversion, demonstrating that the assault functioned as a tool of religious enforcement. By inflicting brutal violence, the accused sought to terrorise, punish and break her resistance, using bodily harm as a means to compel religious submission. Such violence constituted a direct attack on the victim’s religious identity and dignity, where physical brutality was employed to suppress her faith and autonomy. The assault, therefore, cannot be separated from its religious motive, as it was explicitly triggered by her refusal to convert, making it an act of religiously motivated violence. Fifth, the accused's abandonment of the victim after her refusal to convert reveals he never valued her as a partner, viewing her solely as a target for sexual exploitation and religious conversion. By posing as Hindu Yash Chauhan to lure and impregnate her, he executed premeditated manipulation, discarding her once her Hindu identity blocked his agenda. This sudden desertion after years of false promises underscores anti-Hindu hatred, treating her refusal as an intolerable affront to his faith's dominance. Such conduct makes the religious animosity behind the crime starkly clear. 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 are not merely personal crimes; they are 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. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database of the tracker. 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 2020. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date, 4 February 2020, as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 4 February 2026. The Hinduphobia Tracker records an incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported by the media.
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
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
