Hindu woman raped under pretext of marriage, pressured for religious conversion, and assaulted by Muslim man in Lucknow

Case ID : d327a48 | Location : Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 25 February, 2026

Case ID : d327a48

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

25 February, 2026

Hindu woman raped under pretext of marriage, pressured for religious conversion, and assaulted by Muslim man in Lucknow

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Forced conversion before marriage

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Case Summary

In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was subjected to rape repeatedly under the pretext of marriage by a Muslim man. After this, the victim was subjected to coercion for religious conversion and also physical assault by the Muslim accused. At the time of writing this report, the Hinduphobia Tracker called the Thakurganj police station in this case. We were able to talk to SHO (Station House Officer) Veer Singh Chauhan. He confirmed to us that the victim is a Hindu woman and the accused was arrested. According to reports, the accused is identified as Shadab Ansari. This incident came to light when the victim filed a complaint at the police station on 26 February 2026, stating that the accused had promised to marry her. She remained in contact with him, believing this deception. It is stated that during this time, the accused had sexual relations with her several times. When the woman talked about marriage, he backed out. When she protested, he severely assaulted her, abused her and threatened her with death. The accused also said that he would marry her only if she converted to Islam before marriage. Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the accused, Shadab Ansari (25), from the Murdahiya Adarsh Nagar Mallapur area. After interrogation, he was produced in court and sent to jail in judicial custody. Police officials said further investigations were underway, and the victim was provided legal assistance.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/or Groomed. The tertiary category selected 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 subcategory selected is- Forced conversion before marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. In such cases, typically, two patterns emerge. First, when the relationship is consensual, and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. The second is when the woman gets into a marriage with the man pretending to share her faith. Later, when the truth is revealed, the man starts pressuring the woman to convert her religion and give up her religious identity. In both the situations, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. Another primary category selected is- Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory selected is- Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victims. 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 exemplifies a religiously motivated hate crime, as the Muslim accused targeted the Hindu woman specifically because of her religious identity. He lured her into a relationship under false pretences, exploited and raped her multiple times, then coerced her to convert to Islam as a condition for marriage. When she resisted, he physically assaulted her. These actions reveal clear religious animosity towards her Hindu identity, treating her faith as an obstacle to be erased through deception, sexual violence, and forced conversion. In this case, even though the accused openly revealed his Muslim identity from the outset, he skilfully shaped the nature of their relationship to assure the Hindu woman that her religion would pose no barrier to their romantic involvement, fostering a false sense of equality and security. Trusting these assurances, she fully committed to the relationship, lowering her defences and opening herself to vulnerability. She endured prolonged sexual exploitation, facing repeated rape over an extended period that left deep emotional scars. His abrupt refusal to marry her later exposed the calculated deceit at the heart of it all: this exploitation transcended mere sexual gratification, serving as a deliberate tool to humiliate and shatter her spirit, specifically due to her Hindu identity. By reducing her to a mere sexual commodity, valued only for violation and discard, the accused unveiled the religious animosity driving the crime, where her faith marked her as prey for identity-based degradation, irrefutably confirming its status as a hate crime. The pressure to convert to Islam compounded this outrage, imposed only after he had thoroughly betrayed her trust, subjected her to repeated rape, and callously refused marriage despite his earlier promises. This demand directly violated her religious autonomy, ruthlessly stripping her of the fundamental right to practise her Hindu faith freely and live according to her beliefs. It represented a calculated, predatory move to eradicate her Hindu identity entirely, conditioning any future commitment on the total abandonment of her lifelong spiritual and cultural heritage. Such coercion starkly exemplifies anti-Hindu animosity, where forced conversion acts as a weapon to dominate, subjugate, and destroy the victim's core religious self, transforming personal betrayal into an assault on her very essence. When the victim courageously opposed the unfolding deception and rightfully demanded the marriage he had promised, the accused responded with savage brutality, assaulting her physically and issuing chilling death threats designed to terrorise and silence her forever. This explosive violence, unleashed against a Hindu woman daring to resist the manipulation and sexual exploitation in what was a predatory relationship from the start, lays bare the deep-seated religious hatred fuelling his actions. It was meticulously intended to crush her resolve, break her will, and punish her for upholding her dignity and faith. Such targeted, vicious attacks on Hindu women underscore the perpetrators' profound animosity, rooted in bias that views them as objects to be controlled and diminished through fear. Given that this case meets multiple parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurs, or when the victim's ordeal begins, rather than media reporting dates. In this case, media reports do not specify the exact start of the victim's ordeal, including when the accused first sexually exploited her. They only mention 26 February 2026, the date she filed her police complaint. As this is the earliest known date available, we are using it as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes only.