Hindu man held captive for 12 years, forcibly converted to Islam, compelled to slaughter cows and eat beef by Muslim men in Pratapgarh

Case ID : d32791d | Location : Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 22 February, 2014

Case ID : d32791d

Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

22 February, 2014

Hindu man held captive for 12 years, forcibly converted to Islam, compelled to slaughter cows and eat beef by Muslim men in Pratapgarh

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Attack on Hindu religious representations

Desecration of Hindu religious symbol

Defiling religious customs

Case Summary

In Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu man named Santosh Shukla was lured, held captive for 12 years, forcibly converted to Islam, and compelled to slaughter cows and force-fed beef by Muslim men. He was also subjected to severe physical assault over a period of 12 years. According to reports, this incident came to light when the victim shared his ordeal with the Pratapgarh police. Santosh Shukla, 40, a resident of Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh, worked at a dhaba in Chhattisgarh 10-12 years ago (2014). There, he met the accused Muslim men, Badrul Zaman, Kallu, Nayi, and Nizam Zainuddin from Pratapgarh. These men lured Santosh with promises of labour and marriage and took him with them. Santosh Shukla was brought to Pratapgarh, and his name was forcibly changed to Sher Khan, a Muslim name. His Aadhaar card was issued under this name. He was forced to do household chores and was brutally beaten. He was also made to recite the Kalma (Islamic declaration of faith) to convert to Islam. He was even forced to slaughter cows and eat their meat by the accused. One day, when the victim tried to escape, they caught him, brought him back, and beat him severely. Santosh Shukla, the victim, somehow managed to reach the police and filed a complaint. Acting on the complaint, the police arrested the main accused, Badrul Zaman. The remaining named accused were absconding, and the police had conducted raids to search for them. Amidst this, a video of the victim's testimony went viral on social media, where he revealed that the Muslim perpetrators used to severely assault him, and compelled him to eat beef after making him slaughter cows. The Muslim perpetrators themselves also used to kill cows. The victim also stated that the cows that were slaughtered were starved for many days before being killed. Pratapgarh police also put out a tweet on their official X handle where the police admitted that the victim had reached out to them, stating that he was held hostage for 12 years and was forcibly converted by reading the Kalma, and his name was changed to Sher Khan.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected in this case 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 on Hindu religious representations. The subcategory selected is- Desecration of Hindu religious symbol. Icons and symbols or a religious representation of a spiritual ideal are widely revered in Hinduism. Iconography is of vital significance in the Hindu milieu. It helps connect people’s spiritual beliefs with the real world. Iconography within the Hindu faith takes several shapes and forms. Murtis are of most significance to Hindus, to which daily rituals, prayers and offerings are done. Besides the murtis, there are several other symbols which have deep significance in the Hindu faith – the Om and Swastika for example. Since these Hindu religious symbols hold paramount importance in Hinduism, any desecration of symbols, icons, murtis, religious representations and manifestations, is driven by animosity towards the faith itself which manifests itself through these murtis, icons and symbols. Therefore, any desecration of these Hindu religious symbols and representations is considered religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. The other subcategory selected 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. There are several such customs and traditions that 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. In this case, Santosh Shukla, a Hindu man, endured severe torment as Muslim perpetrators held him hostage for twelve years, forcibly converted him to Islam through the compelled recital of the Kalma (Islamic declaration of faith), forced him to slaughter cows, and force-fed him beef. They stripped him of his identity by changing his name to Sher Khan, even forging his Aadhaar card under this Muslim name, turning a free Hindu man into a prisoner of their faith. Luring Santosh with false promises of employment and marriage served as the deceptive entry point into a meticulously planned assault on his religious autonomy, stripping away his freedom to practise Hinduism on his own terms. Upon arrival in Pratapgarh, the perpetrators wasted no time in imposing their will, seizing control of his life and spirit by forcing him to recite the Kalma, Islam's core declaration of faith that signifies submission to Allah, effectively nullifying his lifelong Hindu beliefs, rituals, and devotion in a single coercive act. This brutal replacement of his sacred Hindu worldview with their imposed religion through unrelenting physical and psychological pressure went far beyond simple domination or personal control; it represented the perpetrators' profound and visceral religious animosity towards Hinduism itself, deliberately weaponising a foundational Islamic spiritual ritual to sever Santosh's deep-rooted sacred ties to his ancestral faith, deities, and community, while remoulding him entirely in their religious image against his will. Santosh endured twelve years of unrelenting, soul-crushing captivity in Pratapgarh, reduced to the status of a household slave compelled to perform endless menial chores such as cleaning, cooking, and labouring without respite, all while facing brutal physical assaults whenever he dared resist or question their demands. The perpetrators repeatedly beat him savagely, aiming to shatter his resilient spirit and inner resolve, relentlessly hammering the Kalma into his mind through torture until he recited it under extreme duress, thereby cementing his forced conversion as an irreversible mark of their triumph. This prolonged harassment, spanning well over a decade of daily degradation, starvation, isolation, and calculated violence, laid bare their deep-seated, unyielding hatred specifically for his Hindu identity, as they methodically dismantled every aspect of it through systematic abuse designed to humiliate and reprogramme him into submission. The perpetrators went further, forcing Santosh to slaughter cows with his own hands while they themselves killed cows as well. In Hinduism, the cow holds a profound sacred status as a motherly figure symbolising non-violence, life, and divine benevolence; millions revere her, and her slaughter constitutes a grave sin, forbidden under any circumstance. Forcing a devout Hindu like Santosh to commit this act deliberately desecrated his faith and its core symbol, while force-feeding him beef compounded the humiliation, severing his ties to Hindu dietary laws and spiritual purity with vicious intent. Even historically, precedents exist for such incidents where Muslim perpetrators have used force-feeding beef and cow slaughter as tactics to convert Hindus to Islam by desecrating their faith. This case follows that exact pattern of forcible desecration of Hindu religious symbols and force-feeding beef to shatter the victim's Hindu identity. Overall, it amounts to desecration of the sacred cow, a Hindu religious symbol, and the customs Santosh followed, violating the religious mandate against cow slaughter. The perpetrators trampled this sanctity to humiliate his Hindu identity, revealing deep-seated religious animosity towards him and his faith, marking it unequivocally as a hate crime. The act of forcibly changing his name even on legal documents like his Aadhaar card underscores the severity with which the perpetrators targeted him for conversion. Such name changes aimed to completely sever him from his Hindu roots, rewriting his entire religious history and identity. This systematic erasure confirms their relentless drive to annihilate his faith, establishing a clear case of religiously motivated hate crime. Since this case meets multiple parameters of a hate crime, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the dates of incidents based on when a victim's ordeal begins rather than when it is reported by the media. However, in this case, media reports have not stated the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. They only mention that the perpetrators lured the victim twelve years ago. Furthermore, the media reports regarding this case were published on 23 February 2026. Hence, based on both these pieces of information, 23 February 2014 has been selected as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes only.