Hindu women targeted for rape, forced conversion and prostitution by Muslim men posing as Hindus; accused connected to Chhangur Peer's gang
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India 
10 February, 2019
Case Summary
In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, multiple Hindu women were targeted, blackmailed, raped and pressured for religious conversion by Muslim men. The accused pretended to be Hindus to lure Hindu women and recorded obscene videos of them, through which they blackmailed them for prostitution and religious conversion. The accused were also connected to Chhangur Peer, alias Chhangur Baba, an Islamic peer who was involved in forcibly converting thousands of Hindus to Islam and who ran a grooming/conversion gang from Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh. According to reports, the accused, Kamruddin Jamal (Kamaru Jamal) and Qamar Hayat (alias Kamr Hayat Idrisi), used fake identities and pretended to be Hindu men, Rahul and Sonu, respectively, to lure and target Hindu girls. Their modus operandi involved approaching Hindu girls using false Hindu identities, even accompanying them to temples and applying a tilak to reinforce the fabricated identity. Many of the Hindu girls were also lured under the guise of offering them jobs at the “Brown Girls Cafe” and other similar establishments, including a spa. The accused specifically targeted Hindu women who were new to the city and were economically vulnerable. After gaining their trust, the victims were drugged, raped, and their explicit videos were recorded. These recordings were then used to blackmail them to push them into prostitution and convert them to Islam. The matter came to light when one of the victims approached the Gomti Nagar police station and filed a complaint, narrating her ordeal. According to the victim, she came to Lucknow in 2024 in search of a job. During this time, she came into contact with the accused, Kamruddin Jamal, who introduced himself as a Hindu man named Rahul. He took her to a massage parlour in the name of getting her a job. During this, the accused drugged her and recorded obscene videos of her. Through these videos, he blackmailed her and pushed her into prostitution. During this time, she was raped by Kamruddin Jamal, Qamar Hayat and many other Muslim men. They also took her to different districts to further exploit her. The victim stated that many of the Hindu women whom the accused targeted were pressured to convert to Islam using such obscene videos. Another victim, a Hindu woman from Delhi, stated that she was lured on the pretext of a job. “I found a number on the internet and called for a job. He (Kamruddin Jamal) came to Delhi, then took me to Ajmer and from there to Lucknow,” she said. She was physically assaulted and made to drink alcohol, after which her obscene videos were taken. She was locked in a room, tied up, with tape on her mouth. She was also forced into prostitution by blackmailing her through her obscene videos. She also stated that she was brought to Lucknow at the age of 13-14 and is now 20, claiming she was kidnapped, gang-raped by four to five men, and forced into prostitution across districts like Faizabad and Amethi. Following the complaint, police initiated an investigation into the accused, their documentation, and the wider network. As of the date of this report, a case was registered against the accused, Kamruddin Jamal and Qamar Hayat. Furthermore, several women stated that an organised gang was behind the case, with links to individuals like Chhangur Baba. The first victim also stated that a photograph of Chhangur Baba was displayed in the café. Rish Tafail, an activist associated with an NGO, Dahej Par Prahar Social Trust, stated that 16 Hindu girls have so far been rescued, and only two of those victims had publicly come forward to file a complaint. Representatives of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha also reached the police station, raising concerns regarding the sections invoked in the FIRs. Police confirmed that investigations were ongoing, that the café had been sealed, and that the broader network, including the role of named individuals and any inter-district links, was under scrutiny. It is pertinent to note that the victims indicated that the accused has connections with Chhangur Baba, who ran a larger religious conversion racket across Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) had dismantled this organised network, uncovering its systematic operation aimed at targeting and converting Hindu individuals, particularly women and minors, to Islam. According to the investigation, Chhangur Baba provided financial incentives to Muslim men to lure Hindu women, often under false identities by posing as Hindus, and then pressured them into conversion. Once converted, these women were married off through Nikah ceremonies arranged by Chhangur Baba himself. Authorities also discovered that Chhangur Baba had published a book titled Shijra-e-Tayyaba, intended as a manual to propagate Islam. The ATS investigation revealed that his network operated on a structured incentive model: Rs15–16 lakh was paid for converting Brahmin, Sikh, or Kshatriya women; Rs10–12 lakh for OBC women; and Rs8–10 lakh for those from other castes. He, along with his wife, was arrested on 5th July 2025. The ATS confirmed that the gang had received nearly Rs100 crore in foreign funds to facilitate these illegal conversions across India. Members of his own family were reportedly involved in the operation. The Hinduphobia Tracker has documented multiple cases involving Chhangur Baba. In all these cases, Hindu victims were religiously profiled, deliberately targeted because of their religious identity. They were forced to convert to Islam through the use of force, deception, harassment, incentives, and intimidation. In the first case, Chhangur encouraged a Muslim man named Meraj to lure a Hindu woman named Aarti by posing as a Hindu. Afterwards, Chhangur, along with Meraj, forcibly converted her to Islam and conducted her Nikah according to Islamic customs. Another case involved a Hindu man named Harjeet, who was forcibly converted to Islam by Chhangur. The accused had offered Harjeet incentives and subjected him to harassment and had filed false cases against him in an attempt to persuade him to convert to Islam. Similarly, in another case, in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu man named Sanchit and his wife were lured to convert to Islam with incentives by the Muslim Peer Chhangur. Both victims were also subjected to death threats and were harassed with false cases for refusing to convert. Another such instance was reported in Faridabad, Haryana, where a minor Hindu girl was brainwashed and forcibly converted to Islam by her Muslim neighbours who were part of a Muslim gang run by the Muslim peer Chhangur. After her conversion, her Hindu identity was erased; she was given a Muslim name, compelled to wear a burqa, forced to perform Islamic rituals, and fed meat against her beliefs. She was horrifically exploited sexually, blackmailed using obscene videos, and pushed into prostitution. In another such case, a Hindu woman named Rashmi (name changed) from Karnataka was trafficked to Saudi Arabia and subjected to years of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse as part of a systematic religious conversion racket operated under the influence of Islamic Peer Jalaluddin alias Chhangur Baba. Under false pretences of marriage and employment, the woman was entrapped, manipulated, and eventually transported across international borders. In another case, in Ranipokhari, Uttarakhand, a young Hindu woman became the target of an organised Muslim conversion gang who attempted to forcibly convert her to Islam through online grooming, emotional pressure, and inducements. This conversion gang was connected to Chhangur Peer.
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, and the tertiary category selected is- Name changed, Wears symbols of Hinduism and Pattern of targeting Hindu women. 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 is - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary category being - 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 is - Blackmailed to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The second primary category selected here is - Predatory Proselytisation. Within it, 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 - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with the tertiary category selected is - Rape and sexual assault/harassment. 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 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 proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case has been added to the tracker because multiple Hindu women were deceived, sexually exploited, blackmailed, trafficked, and pressured for religious conversion by Muslim individuals who concealed their identities and pretended to be Hindus. Firstly, the accused deliberately concealed their religious identity to initiate and sustain relationships with Hindu women. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing their true identity and posing as Hindus while wearing religious symbols like a Tilak, they exploited the victims' trust and targeted them under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate the victims based on their religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity and symbols 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, after establishing trust, the accused drugged the victims, sexually assaulted them, and recorded explicit videos without consent. These recordings were then used to force them into prostitution. These exploitations were not random acts of crime; rather, they functioned as religiously motivated tools aimed at humiliating and dominating Hindu women because of their faith identity, as the accused later pressured them for conversion. The target was not the victims as individuals, but their Hindu identity. Thirdly, the victims also revealed that they were pressured to convert to Islam under threat of releasing explicit material. Pressuring Hindu individuals to discard their religion and embrace another is a direct attack on their religious identity and dignity. It is not a matter of personal choice; it is 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. Furthermore, the victims were blackmailed, raped and pushed into prostitution. In such cases, sexual violence serves a dual purpose: physical subjugation and religious humiliation. The intention was to break the victims down, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, so that they could be converted. This is not random violence; it is systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. One victim stated that she was a minor when the accused targeted her and brought her to Lucknow. The Muslim perpetrators sexually exploited her and forced her into prostitution. This targeting of a Hindu minor girl exemplified a hate crime, given her age rendered her incapable of consent or genuine change of conscience. Minors remain mentally and emotionally immature, hence vulnerable to coercion and manipulation. The perpetrators exploited this weakness specifically due to her Hindu religious identity, subjecting her to sexual exploitation and prostitution. This religiously motivated coercion marked a predatory assault on her faith. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victims' 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 victims. 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. The fact that the accused specifically targeted several Hindu women constitutes religious profiling. Such actions are rooted in religious animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. This pattern of targeting multiple Hindu women underscores that the crime was not an isolated incident but a calculated and premeditated effort against them for being Hindu. Furthermore, the complainant highlighted that the accused were connected to Chhangur Baba’s organised conversion racket, a criminal network that systematically profiles Hindu women, entraps them through deceitful romantic involvement, and then coerces or manipulates them into adopting Islam. The modus operandi of the accused was strikingly similar to that of Chhangur Baba’s organised conversion racket, which the complainant also highlighted. This similarity strongly suggests that the accused were connected to, or at least operating within, the same wider conspiracy against Hindus driven by religious animosity. The involvement of an extremist religious conversion network underscores religious animosity as a driving motive behind the crime. Additionally, this pattern of targeting multiple Hindu women underscores that the crime was not an isolated incident but a calculated and premeditated effort against them for being Hindu. His involvement in a conversion racket further demonstrates that his actions were systematic rather than spontaneous. It is important to recognise that Chhangur Baba’s gang represents not just individual criminal acts, but a manifestation of a larger ideological campaign aimed at the gradual Islamisation of India. This agenda seeks to weaken Hindu identity and alter the country’s demographic and cultural fabric. Muslim extremists often harbour deep-seated animosity towards Hindus and perceive India’s Hindu collectivity as something to be dismantled or subdued. The ideological roots of this mindset can be traced back to the Partition of India, which was founded on the belief that Islam was a separate nation that could not coexist with a Hindu civilisation. Historically, Islamic expansion has not always relied solely on military conquest but has also advanced through psychological coercion, forced conversions, and cultural erasure. The Lucknow case reflects the continuation of that same mindset in modern forms, where deception, exploitation, and religious targeting are employed as instruments of ideological warfare against Hindus. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The activist, Rish Tafail, stated that a total of 16 girls have been rescued so far. Accordingly, the victim count in this tracker has been recorded as 16 based on the information available. However, this tracker acknowledges that the actual number of victims may be higher, as investigations are ongoing and additional complainants may come forward over time. 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. Though it is mentioned that the second victim from Delhi was first brought to Lucknow at the age of 13–14 and is currently around 20 years old. Based on this age timeline, the indicative date has been recorded as 11 February 2019, to represent the beginning of her ordeal. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 11 February 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s suffering began, rather than when it was reported by the media.
Victim Details
Total Victim
16
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 16
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 16
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 15
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
