Hindu girl lured into relationship, raped, made to wear burqa and pressured for conversion by Muslim man faking Hindu identity
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 
22 February, 2026
Case Summary
In Mumbai, Maharashtra, a Hindu girl named Rashi was lured into a relationship, drugged, raped and forcibly converted to Islam by a Muslim man. The accused took her to a dargah where she was forced to wear a burqa and was assaulted when she refused. The Hindu victim, Rashi, a resident of Mumbai, recounted that she was initially approached by a Muslim man, who had altered his name to appear Hindu, through Instagram. Their friendship continued for approximately six weeks before things escalated. She stated that the accused visited her residence after learning that she was unwell and alone. He brought biryani (food) for her, which was laced with intoxicating substances and fed it to her, after which she lost consciousness. During this time, he sexually exploited her and recorded obscene videos of her. The accused threatened her for months that the recordings would be circulated publicly if she refused to comply with his demands. During this period, she was taken to Mahim Dargah, a prominent Sufi shrine in Mumbai, which she described as a turning point in her ordeal. She stated that she was compelled to wear a burqa, participate in Islamic rituals and drink water provided by a Maulana despite her objections, in an effort to convert her to Islam. When she refused, she was physically assaulted by the accused and his family members. She further stated that she became pregnant and that members of the accused’s family forcibly administered pills that resulted in the termination of the pregnancy. She further revealed that "They take Hindu girls to Mahim Dargah and convert them.” She further described a subsequent incident in March 2025, on the day of Holi, when she was called to meet the accused’s family and was subjected to extreme physical and sexual violence by multiple members of the household. She was brutally assaulted, gang raped, and had her hair forcibly pulled out. She also recounted facing stigma and a lack of support within her own family during the initial stages of the ordeal, with a friend providing her primary emotional support. Rashi said she approached the local police station to file a complaint but was initially turned away and discouraged from pursuing the matter. She recounted that the officer assigned to file the FIR did not register the complaint at that time and that she perceived bias in the handling of her case. It was only after sustained follow-up efforts and coordination with a local MLA that an FIR was eventually registered. She stated that even after the case was formally recorded, the accused family appeared to receive protection and that no immediate decisive action followed. The incident came to light during the public testimonies of multiple Hindu women, who were survivors of organised targeting, sexual exploitation and coercive religious conversion efforts at the hands of Muslim men. Their statements were delivered at a public event in New Delhi organised on 23 February 2026, ahead of the release of the film The Kerala Story 2, where activists and participants framed their experiences as part of a broader pattern of systematic grooming and religious manipulation of Hindu women. The testimonies included detailed accounts of deception, sexual violence, forced religious practices, intimidation, blackmail, and what they described as repeated inaction by local authorities.
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 categories selected are- Name Changed 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 subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or Groomed. The tertiary categories 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 is - Blackmail 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 other sub-category selected 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. 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 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 girl was deliberately targeted, deceived, sexually exploited and subjected to coercive religious practices by a Muslim man faking Hindu identity. The pattern of crime was not incidental or purely interpersonal, but rooted in hostility towards her Hindu background and aimed at subordinating and erasing her faith through force and intimidation. Firstly, the accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu girl. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her 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 was 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, the subsequent drugging, sexual assault and blackmail further entrenched the coercive control exercised over her. The recording of intimate videos and repeated threats of exposure created psychological captivity, ensuring compliance through fear and shame. By threatening her, he silenced the victim and severed her ability to seek support within her own community, thereby isolating her from her Hindu social and familial networks. In such cases, sexual violence, blackmail and threats serve a dual purpose: physical subjugation and religious humiliation. The intention was to break the victim down, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, so that she could be converted. This was not random violence; it was systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. Thirdly, she was taken to the Mahim Dargah by the accused in order to convert her to Islam. She was compelled to wear a burqa, drink water given by a Maulana, and participate in Islamic rituals against her will. These actions went beyond personal domination and constituted an assault on her religious autonomy. By forcibly imposing Islamic rituals like wearing a burqa, the accused violated her religious autonomy and demonstrated deep-seated hatred towards Hinduism. Such actions were not mere persuasion but a systematic assault on her faith, aimed at breaking her spiritual ties and reprogramming her beliefs, constituting religiously motivated persecution. Fourth, when she resisted these impositions, she was brutally assaulted and beaten by the accused and his family members. The violence followed her refusal to wear the burqa, participate in rituals, and accept Islamic practices. The assault, therefore, did not occur in a vacuum; it followed directly from her resistance to religious coercion. The attack was rooted in hostility towards her refusal to abandon her Hindu identity and was aimed at forcing compliance through fear and physical harm. Such violence functioned as punishment for non-conformity and as a tool to break her will, underscoring its religiously motivated character. Fifth, pressuring a Hindu individual to discard her religious faith and embrace another was a direct attack on her 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 was not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Sixth, the victim was later gang raped and physically assaulted by multiple members of the accused’s family, which intensified the communal character of the abuse. The involvement of family members suggested collective participation rather than isolated misconduct. These exploitations were not random acts of crime; rather, they functioned as religiously motivated tools aimed at humiliating and dominating a Hindu girl because of her faith. The target was not the victim as an individual, but her Hindu identity. Additionally, the victim revealed that "They take Hindu girls to Mahim Dargah and convert them.” Thus, this was not an isolated incident but part of a pattern, identity concealment, coercion, ritual imposition, sexual violence and intimidation, targeting Hindu women. Targeting women specifically because they were Hindu, deceiving them through religious disguise, and attempting to impose another religious identity upon them demonstrated clear religious animus. 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 were not merely personal crimes; they were 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. Disclaimer: None of the media reports covering this case specifies the exact date on which the victim’s ordeal began. In the absence of a confirmed timeline, this case has been recorded using 23 February 2026, the date of the public event at which the victim testified, as an indicative placeholder for documentation purposes only. This date does not represent the actual commencement of the incidents. While media coverage of the incident may have emerged later, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker acknowledges that multiple other individuals were reported to have been involved in the crime, including members of the accused’s family. However, as the exact number of such individuals is not clearly specified in available media sources, the perpetrator count has been recorded as two: the Muslim man who initiated the deception and abuse, and the Maulana who was directly involved in the coercive religious practices described. This count has been maintained strictly for documentation and database standardisation purposes.
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 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
