Hindu woman sexually exploited and coerced to convert to Islam by Muslim man in Khatima, Uttarakhand
Khatima, Uttarakhand, India 
15 February, 2026
Case Summary
In Khatima, Uttarakhand, a Hindu woman was sexually exploited and coerced into converting to Islam by a Muslim man, Shakeel Ahmed. The accused also manipulated her Aadhaar card. The victim's sister was also subjected to physical assault by the accused when she confronted him. The incident came to light after a complaint filed by the Hindu woman against Shakeel Ahmed, a resident of Baghouri, Sitarganj. In the complaint, the victim stated that the Muslim accused engaged in physical sexual exploitation with her and pressured her to convert to Islam. She further stated that the accused tampered with her Aadhaar card by placing his wife’s photograph on it. She further stated that the accused even assaulted her elder sister when confronted. Following this, the victim lodged a complaint at the local police station in Khatima. Acting on the complaint, the police registered a case under sections 64, 77, 78, 351(2), 329(4), 115(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act. The investigation was handed over to Sub-Inspector Priyanka Tamta at Nankmatta police station. On 16 February 2026, police teams formed under the leadership of the Superintendent of Police, Rudrapur, and Circle Officer, Khatima, located the accused near a mango orchard on the Kanjbag road. Shakeel Ahmed was arrested and produced in court, then sent to Haldwani District Sub-Jail in judicial custody.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case is being added to the tracker under three primary categories. The first primary category is- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes". The subcategory 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’ 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 are crimes, for 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 hate crimes. Another primary category selected is- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory 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. Another primary category selected is- Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory selected is- Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was lured, sexually exploited, coerced into converting to Islam, and subjected to Aadhaar identity tampering by the Muslim accused, Shakeel Ahmed. The accused also assaulted the victim's sister when she confronted him. The incident represented a serious case of religiously motivated sexual violence against a Hindu woman due to her Hindu identity. The accused lured her into a connection with him and, under that pretext, sexually exploited her. Here, the sexual violence against her was not for sexual gratification but to humiliate and violate a Hindu woman because of her religious identity. Such targeting based on the victim's faith and subsequent sexual exploitation were all hallmarks of a religiously motivated crime. In addition to the sexual abuse, the victim stated that Shakeel Ahmed pressured her to convert to Islam. This made the coercion explicitly religious, targeting her Hindu identity and attempting to destroy her freedom of faith. The attempt to force conversion was a deliberate effort to strip her of her right to practise Hinduism and her religious autonomy. In Hindu tradition, devotion and worship form the core of identity and spiritual life. By coercing her towards conversion, the accused sought to erase her faith and impose Islam upon her. Such acts of attempted forced conversion were clear examples of a hate crime because the crime focused on violently altering the victim's faith identity, making it a hate-driven attack. The intimidation escalated when her elder sister was assaulted after confronting the accused, showing the crime extended beyond personal exploitation to suppress the dignity and autonomy of her entire family. When her sister stood up to him, she faced brutal physical assault because she opposed his sexual exploitation and conversion attempt while defending the Hindu victim. In cases like this, Hindu individuals who support other Hindu victims of hate crimes often face attacks themselves, marking this as a hate-driven act. Taken together, the sexual exploitation, religious coercion, identity manipulation, and assault on the victim's sister constituted a hate crime rooted in hostility towards Hindu faith identity. Therefore, this case was added to the hate crime database of the tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. Media sources covering this case did not specify when she first encountered the accused or when her suffering started. Therefore, for documentation purposes, the date was recorded based on the police arrest of Shakeel Ahmed, 16 February 2026.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 2
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 2
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
