Hindu man beaten to death by his Muslim girlfriend's parents over his interfaith relationship

Case ID : d327b37 | Location : Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 12 May, 2021

Case ID : d327b37

Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India

12 May, 2021

Hindu man beaten to death by his Muslim girlfriend's parents over his interfaith relationship

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Killed by non-Hindu partner's family

Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In the Singot village of Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, a Hindu man named Rajendra Saini was beaten to death for being in a relationship with a Muslim girl by his Muslim in-laws. The victim, Rajendra Saini, had married a Muslim girl named Amreen, a resident of Singot, in 2021 following a love relationship. The marriage was opposed by Amreen’s family, who did not accept the union between their Muslim daughter and a Hindu man. After the marriage, the couple had been living together in Jaipur. However, several months before the incident, Amreen had travelled to her parental home in Khandwa and remained there. Her family confined her to the house and prevented her from returning to her husband. On 13 May 2023, Rajendra travelled from Jaipur to the Singot village in order to meet Amreen and take her back with him. When he reached her house, Amreen’s family members confronted him and violently attacked him with sticks. Her father, Sheikh Mumtaz, her mother Munnibai, and brother Salman beat him repeatedly, causing serious injuries to his arms, legs, back, and stomach. Despite being severely injured, Rajendra managed to reach the Piplod police station and lodge a complaint against his in-laws regarding the assault. The police sent him for medical examination, and he was admitted to the hospital for treatment. His condition deteriorated over the next two days, and he died during treatment on 15 May 2023. Following his death, the police registered a case against Sheikh Mumtaz, Munnibai, and Salman under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and arrested them. The investigation was followed by the filing of a chargesheet before the court. During the trial, no eyewitnesses came forward to testify about the incident. However, the court relied on the available evidence and circumstances of the case to establish the role of the accused. In March 2026, a court in Khandwa delivered its verdict and convicted the three accused under Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Sheikh Mumtaz (60), Munnibai (55), and Salman (22) were each sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of ₹90,000 on each of the convicts.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the partner or/and her family attacks the victim. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman or her family starts forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman or her family. The force/pressure could involve threats. The trigger for directing violence against the Hindu man is in these cases his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is assaulted by the non-Hindu woman or her family simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the attack is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. 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 here is - Killed by non-Hindu partner's family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced/pressured to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the family of the non-Hindu partner murders the victim. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman and her family start forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman’s family. The pressure could involve threats. The trigger to murdering the Hindu man in these cases is his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is murdered by the family of the non-Hindu woman simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the murder is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. 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- Attack resulting in death, and within this, 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 the 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. This case stood as a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus, where the victim, a Hindu man named Rajendra Saini, was beaten to death for being in a relationship with a Muslim girl. It was not a spontaneous act arising from a momentary family dispute but was directly linked to his religious identity and his marriage to a Muslim woman. Rajendra, a Hindu man from Rajasthan, had married Amreen after a love relationship. However, the marriage was strongly opposed by Amreen’s Muslim family, who refused to accept their daughter’s union with a Hindu man. The attack occurred when Rajendra travelled to Singot to meet his wife and take her back with him, demonstrating that the hostility was triggered specifically by the interfaith marriage and his identity as a Hindu husband. It is important to note that both Rajendra Saini and Amreen were adults who had chosen to marry each other of their own free will. Despite this, Rajendra faced violent retaliation from his wife’s family when he attempted to reunite with her. The brutal beating carried out by Amreen’s father, Sheikh Mumtaz, mother, Munnibai, and brother, Salman highlighted that the objection extended far beyond familial disagreement and took the form of violent punishment directed at Rajendra for marrying into a Muslim family. The severity of the assault further underscored the hostility underlying the crime. Rajendra was attacked with sticks and sustained serious injuries to multiple parts of his body, including his arms, legs, back, and stomach. It demonstrated not only a desire to cause grievous harm but also to punish the Hindu man for daring to marry a Muslim girl. The calculated and deliberate violence and its intensity underscored the profound hostility at the heart of this crime. This was not simply a matter of personal vengeance, but rather a stark manifestation of communal hatred. The fact that he was violently assaulted when he came to take his wife back to their home illustrated that the perpetrators sought to punish and deter the interfaith union itself. This incident fell into a broader and disturbing pattern where Hindu men are targeted specifically for being in relationships with Muslim women. These assaults are often framed as matters of "honour," but the underlying motivation is deeply religious. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is considered invalid if a Muslim woman marries a non-Muslim man who does not convert to Islam. In many such cases, the religious identity of the Hindu male partner, or his family, becomes the key trigger for violence, especially when there is no conversion to Islam. Even if conversion is not directly demanded in every case, the death threats or violence are often aimed at punishing the Hindu man for not adhering to Islamic norms in the context of a relationship with a Muslim woman. Such attacks on Hindu men by Muslims over interfaith relationships or marriages with Muslim women are often justified under the guise of the “Bhagwa Love Trap” conspiracy theory. This theory, propagated by members of the Muslim community, claims that Hindu men target Muslim women for exploitation, supposedly due to their religious identity. However, this theory lacks credible evidence, with no documented cases of Hindu men disguising their identities to trap Muslim women. Instead, this conspiracy theory serves as a pretext to attack or kill Hindu men engaged in relationships or marriages with Muslim women. The principal cause of animosity is the Hindu man’s faith, making such incidents clear examples of religiously motivated crimes. It reflected a broader ecosystem of intolerance, where Hindu men are seen as transgressors for engaging in interfaith relationships or marriages with Muslim women. Sonu Kamat's assault was not incidental; it was deliberate and symbolic, aimed at enforcing religious boundaries through violence. For these reasons, this case was added to the tracker as a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindu individuals. Hence, this case is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of the incident based on when the crime occurred. The media reports published this case on 6 March 2026. However, the media reports do not specify the exact date of the beginning of the victim’s ordeal. The victim had married the Muslim girl in 2021, and on 13 May 2023, the victim was killed by the Muslim family. Considering these two pieces of information, we are using an indicative date of 13 May 2021 as the date of the incident. This date is used for documentation purposes only and represents the estimated beginning of her ordeal.