Hindu transgenders tortured, forced to eat beef, convert to Islam, offer namaz, and perform Hajj by Muslim transgenders in Bhopal
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India 
10 February, 2026
Case Summary
In Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Hindu transgenders were coerced into converting to Islam by Muslim transgenders, namely Surayya Haji alias Rashid and others. The victims were forced to recite the Kalma (Islamic declaration of faith), offer namaz (five daily Islamic prayers), and perform Hajj (Islamic pilgrimage). They endured physical assaults, compulsion to eat beef (cow meat), and looting of their money to fund madrasas and mosques. Rishi Ajay Das, founder of the Kinnar Akhara, explained to the media, "Since the Islamic era, during Muslim rule, there was a tradition of three Gaddis of the Kinnars (Indian transgender communities): Jamal Dada, Kamal Dada, and Ganga Ram. Two were Muslim, and one was Hindu. Ganga Ram's group had ended. While in the remaining groups called Gaddi Pati or Dera, their leaders or heads were mostly Muslims." Hindu transgenders who went to them under compulsion were lured and then tortured, fed beef, forced to recite the Kalma, and compelled to perform Hajj and namaz by the perpetrators. Rishi Ajay Das further stated, "Torture rooms were built in every camp; Hindu transgenders were tortured. Their chief gurus, who were Muslims, kept most of the money Hindu transgenders brought in through begging. This money was extorted from Hindus on Holi and Diwali, and not on Eid or other Muslim festivals." He explained, "Muslim gurus used this money for Islamic causes. It was invested in mosques, madrasas, and used for terror funding." He further stated to the media that, "A transgender named Devika received terror funding from foreign countries (Pakistan and Bangladesh) in the Shaheen Bagh incident. Transgenders should have been investigated to determine who was Hindu and who was Muslim, because in Sanatan Dharma, only Hindu transgenders had the right to offer greetings (badhai)." He further submitted to the media, "In Islam, Transgenders were called Mukhannars and Khwaja. Begging was considered haram in Islam, and here one had no right to beg. Yet, they were converting. They were adopting a Jihadi (Islamic extremist ideology) mentality. This was dangerous for the country and its security." The transgender victims stated, "We are Hindus, we must remain Hindus." They demanded that Surayya Haji be barred from entering the city. They declared, "We will file a First Information Report against Surayya Baji. Due to her curses, everyone was afraid of her." A victim named Kajal Thakur stated, "Surayya Haji alias Rashid had made two Aadhaar cards. I had two Aadhaar cards: one with the name Kajal and one with the name Javed. They asked me to read namaz, to keep fast. When I was naive, I used to do it. I used to recite the Kalma also. As I gained knowledge of religion, I said that I would follow my religion (Hinduism), but I had been tortured." Prabha Patel stated, "Cow meat was brought and served on festivals. We demanded from the government that we should be saved, otherwise we would commit suicide. We were in danger from Surayya. We fasted during Navratri. She did not let us fast. If we fasted, she had meat/beef cooked. She did not let us sit in Navdurga Puja. If we slept, she said she would have meat stuffed in our mouths." A Muslim transgender woman, Muskan Mirza, said, "I was born in a Muslim family. The atrocities that had happened to Kajal... I could not lie. Surayya Baji said that you were a Muslim and beat her. Make her offer namaz. Make her recite the Kalma. I was a living witness." Two other Hindu transgenders, Tanushree Vishakha and Nakusha Kinnar, also pleaded before the media to save them. They stated, "Cow meat was cooked on Gyaras Purnima. Meat was cooked during Navratri. She said that if your God were alive, then he should go and show it. I brought Laddu Gopal from Mathura, and I was asked whether this idol would give you water to drink."
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is- Predatory Proselytisation. The sub-category selected 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 other sub-category selected is: Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism. In several cases, Hindus are converted, or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down, etc., begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions, if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The other sub-category selected is: Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, and the tertiary category is: 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. The second primary category included in the case is: Attack on Hindu religious representations. The sub-category included in this is: Defiling religious customs. Sanatan Dharma is not a religion of one book, which is to say that while it has religious scriptures that form the central tenets of the faith, there are several traditions followed through thousands of years, mostly passed from generation to generation orally. Several such customs and traditions are followed by various Hindus and Hindu sects. Defiling of these traditions and customs is a breach of an individual or group’s religious practices. Such practices can range from dietary restrictions like not eating non-vegetarian food for a certain period of the year, not eating non-vegetarian food at all, not eating beef since the cow is considered holy in Hinduism, the sanctity of religious customs followed in the house (like many ISCKON devotees), etc. Any malicious action leading to the breach of such traditions or defilement of these traditions owing to animosity towards the faith or for the sake of activism stems not only from the lack of faith in the religion itself but also from disregard for the faith of the devotees who follow the customs/traditions and implicit bias against the faith, the tradition itself. Since these specific traditions are central to the faith of the devotees of that specific sect of Hindus, any non-compliance with these traditional rules would be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. The third primary category included in this case is: Attack not resulting in death. The sub-category 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 the 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 subcategory selected in this case 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 constitutes a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime as Hindu transgenders in Bhopal endured systematic pressure to convert to Islam. They were compelled to renounce their Hindu faith entirely through coercion, threats, and manipulation. Such forced conversion violates the core principle of religious autonomy, stripping victims of their right to freely practise and preserve their religious and spiritual identity. By targeting Hindus specifically for their faith and imposing another religion, perpetrators demonstrated deep animosity towards Hinduism, marking this as a deliberate, religiously motivated attack designed to erase the Hindu presence within the transgender community. The Hindu transgender victims endured force-feeding of beef, recitation of the Kalma, and compulsion into Islamic practices such as offering namaz and performing Hajj. The cow holds sacred status in Hinduism as a symbol of life and non-violence, revered across scriptures and traditions; in fact, Hindus consider killing a cow the gravest sin. Therefore, the act of force-feeding beef to Hindus desecrated their faith, severed their Hindu identity, and aimed at conversion to Islam, embodying a religiously motivated hate crime. Muslim extremists have historically used this tactic to convert Hindus, desecrate temples, and wound Hindu sentiments, mirroring this case's pattern of religious aggression. The act of forcibly compelling victims to recite the Kalma, perform namaz, and Hajj constituted a brutal assault on their Hindu identity, stripping away every vestige of their spiritual autonomy. This went beyond mere coercion; perpetrators thrust alien rituals upon Hindu transgenders, ridiculing their devotion while enforcing Islamic practices to humiliate and dismantle their faith from within. Such targeted aggression, aimed at erasing Hinduism through mockery and compulsion, embodied raw religious animosity and marked a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime. Hindu transgenders also were subjected to relentless manipulation into namaz while their Hindu faith endured vicious denigration. When one Hindu victim brought a cherished Laddu Gopal idol from Mathura, a sacred embodiment of divine child Krishna, Muslim perpetrators mocked it cruelly, taunting, "Does your idol give you water to drink?" This deliberate scorn shredded the reverence Hindus hold for their deities, severed spiritual ties to Hinduism, and manipulated vulnerable souls into Islamic rituals. Mocking Hindu idols, central symbols of worship and connection to the divine, signalled a calculated attack on Hinduism itself, designed to humiliate devotees and enforce conversion to Islam. Such targeted desecration of sacred beliefs amounted to blatant religious animosity, marking it as a religiously motivated hate crime. During sacred Hindu festivals like Navratri, when the Hindu transgender devotees honoured Goddess Durga's nine forms through rigorous fasts, pujas, and vows of purity, the Muslim perpetrator force-fed beef/meat to fasting Hindus. Force-feeding meat/beef already desecrated their faith by violating religious sanctity, but timing it during Navratri amplified the outrage: it defiled the holy custom of ritual cleanliness and devotion central to the festival. This premeditated assault on a pinnacle of Hindu spiritual observance wounded devotees at their most vulnerable, shattering their sacred practices with contemptuous intent. By exploiting and defiling these rituals, the act embodied profound religious hatred, constituting a clear religiously motivated hate crime. Hindu transgenders also stated that their hard-earned begging money was ruthlessly looted by Muslim perpetrators and diverted to construct madrasas and mosques. Funds even flowed into terror financing, as revealed by victims and community leaders. This brazen exploitation reflected stark Islamic supremacism, where the perpetrators preyed exclusively on Hindu transgenders for their religious identity and fierce resistance to conversion. By stripping these marginalised people of their livelihood to fuel an alien faith's expansion, the act weaponised economic coercion against Hinduism itself, embodying calculated religious domination and marking a profound hate crime rooted in faith-based subjugation. The victims also endured savage physical torture in purpose-built rooms within the camps, where Muslim gurus unleashed beatings and brutality as punishment for their Hindu identity and refusal to convert. This violence erupted amidst the broader onslaught of forced conversion, beef force-feeding, Kalma recitation, and namaz imposition, forming a relentless campaign to crush their spirit. Far from random aggression, these assaults stemmed directly from seething religious animosity towards the victims' unyielding Hindu identity, targeting them as symbols of defiance against Islamic takeover. Such layered physical and psychological torment, designed to break their spirit solely for their faith, marked it as a religiously motivated hate crime. This was not an isolated incident. The Hinduphobia Tracker previously recorded similar cases involving Hindu transgenders. For instance, in Madhya Pradesh, Kinnar Mona Ahirwar from Itwari Tori in Tikamgarh district hanged herself on 13 January 2026 after her Muslim guru forced her to convert to Islam and eat beef. In another case in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, seven Hindu transgender women fell victim to forced conversion to Islam by a Muslim transgender named Kinnar Manju Devi. Similarly, in another case, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, several Hindu transgender women, nearly 60 people, were forced to convert to Islam by Muslim transgender individuals. Those who refused to convert were injected with HIV-infected syringes. Overall, this current case meets multiple parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime. Therefore, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker database. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the victim's ordeal begins, rather than media reporting dates. Media reports in this case did not specify the exact start of the ordeal. Therefore, the first media report date, 10 February 2026, serves as the indicative incident date. This is recorded for documentation purposes only. In this case, although multiple Hindu transgender people were victims, the media report did not state the exact number. Five individuals, Rishi Ajay Das, Tanushree Vishakha, Nakusha Kinnar, Prabha Patel, and Kajal Thakur, were named. Henceforth, these five were considered the victims, and the victim count was recorded as '5'. This represents a conservative estimate, as the total number of victims could be higher. Similarly, for perpetrators, the media report named the main Muslim transgender, Surayya Haji alias Rashid, and stated that additional Muslim transgender gurus tortured the Hindu transgenders. However, since the total number of perpetrators was not specified, Surayya Haji alias Rashid was considered the primary perpetrator, and the perpetrator count was recorded as ''1''.
Victim Details
Total Victim
5
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 5
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 3
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 5
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
third
Sources 
