Hindu woman pressured for religious conversion, force-fed beef, assaulted, and threatened by Muslim in-laws in Maharashtra
Thane, Maharashtra, India 
3 November, 2022
Case Summary
A Hindu woman from Mira-Bhayandar in Thane district, Maharashtra, endured sustained physical and psychological abuse, pressure to convert her religion, forced consumption of beef, death threats, dowry harassment, and financial extortion after marrying into a Muslim family. Her mother-in-law, Gulshan Tashe Patel, and brother-in-law, Atif Tashe Patel, were named as the perpetrators. A First Information Report was registered against both Muslim individuals at the Kashigaon Police Station. According to media reports, the Hindu woman married a Muslim man, Afshan Tashe Patel, in November 2022, according to Muslim customs and moved into her in-laws’ residence in Kashimira. Soon after the marriage, her mother-in-law, Gulshan Tase Patel and brother-in-law Atif Tashe Patel began pressuring her to abandon her Hindu faith and convert to Islam. When she refused, she was subjected to sustained physical and psychological abuse and was repeatedly threatened with death. She was also forced to consume beef, a deliberate violation of her Hindu religious beliefs and dietary practices. Her in-laws made derogatory remarks about her Hindu faith and her place of origin, and her character was publicly questioned. The woman stated that she possessed audio recordings documenting the harassment she endured. Following the marriage, the mother-in-law, Gulshan Tashe Patel, took possession of the woman’s gold jewellery and refused to return it. The in-laws also attempted to extort money from her parents under the pretext of business needs. When the woman’s family refused to meet these demands, the in-laws threatened to defame her, separate her from her husband, arrange his second marriage, and burn her alive. The threats continued over time, placing the woman and her family under constant intimidation for refusing both the demand for money and the pressure to convert her religion. Distressed by all this, the Hindu woman filed a formal complaint at Kashigaon Police Station, on the basis of which a First Information Report was registered against mother-in-law Gulshan Tashe Patel and brother-in-law Atif Tashe Patel. Her husband also made serious accusations against his own mother and brother and called for an impartial investigation into the matter. Kashigaon Police confirmed that an investigation had been initiated following the complaint and stated that appropriate legal action would be taken based on the available evidence. Notably, this is not the first time the Tashe family has been involved in such a crime. Similar news emerged in February 2026, stating that the Hindu wife of Atif Tashe had said that, after her marriage to him, he and Gulshan severely pressured her to adopt Islam and discard Hinduism. The perpetrators also pressured her to offer namaz and subjected her to verbal and physical abuse. The victim also endured sexual violence during the course of her suffering.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category for this case is- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. One of the main sub-categories for this case is- Forced conversion after marriage. The tertiary category here is- Forced to eat beef. In such cases, a non-Hindu man marries a Hindu woman, and the force/pressure to convert to any Abrahamic faith, like Islam, begins after marriage. 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. The marriage could be under the Special Marriages Act, where neither parties are required to convert their religion for the marriage to be considered legitimate. While the victim in such cases enters matrimony assuming that religious identity is not a barrier, the non-Hindu man starts to pressure the woman to convert her religion after marriage. 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 situations, there is application of force by the perpetrator, including the denial of the woman’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the woman is forced/pressured to convert include force-feeding beef, being forced to read the Kalma, being forced to wear a hijab, forced to undergo Halala, etc. There are several instances where, after marriage, the woman voluntarily converts to Islam. Such cases are often argued to be a result of religious brainwashing, however, for the purpose of documenting religiously motivated hate crimes, in the absence of the victim complaining of forced conversion, such cases do not form a part of the database. Another sub-category here 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. One other sub-category for this case is- Blackmailed 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. Another sub-category that this case qualifies for is- Torture of family to force women to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is forced to convert her religion. Several methods are used for such forced conversion. The non-Hindu man is often documented to issue threats and even employ violence. One of the ways used by such perpetrators is threatening and/or torturing the family members of the Hindu woman to pressure her to convert. The perpetrators in such cases issue threats to harm or torture the family of the woman. In some cases, there is also violence directed towards the family to force the Hindu woman to convert. Such crimes aim to blackmail the victim into changing her religion by inducing fear of harm to her family. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Another primary category selected is- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory selected is- Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism. In several cases, Hindus are converted or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then, the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down etc begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. Another 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. This case qualified as a hate crime on the basis that a Hindu woman in Mira-Bhayandar, Thane district, Maharashtra was subjected to a sustained and deliberate campaign of physical torture, mental harassment, pressure to convert, forced consumption of beef, death threats, financial extortion, and blackmail by her Muslim mother-in-law Gulshan Tashe Patel and brother-in-law Atif Tashe Patel following her marriage into a Muslim family in November 2022. The perpetrators systematically targeted the Hindu victim’s religious identity, her Hindu dietary practices, and her family’s financial vulnerability as instruments of coercion designed to force her to abandon her Hindu faith and convert to Islam. The campaign was not a spontaneous or isolated series of disputes but a deliberate, calculated, and sustained assault on the Hindu victim’s religious identity, dignity, and personal safety, carried out within the space of her own marital home, where she had the least protection and the greatest vulnerability. The registration of a First Information Report against both perpetrators at Kashigaon Police Station confirmed the criminal nature of the sustained campaign directed against the Hindu victim and reflected the serious and well-documented nature of the accusations she brought forward. The Hindu victim entered her marriage in November 2022 and moved into her Muslim in-laws’ home in Kashimira, placing herself in a position of profound vulnerability as the sole Hindu individual within a Muslim household. It was within this environment of isolation and dependency that the perpetrators began their sustained campaign against her Hindu identity. The fact that the campaign began shortly after the marriage reflected a premeditated and deliberate intent on the part of the perpetrators to use the marital relationship as a vehicle for forcing the Hindu victim to abandon her faith. The timing of the campaign, initiated almost immediately after the Hindu victim moved into the marital home, suggested that the perpetrators had planned their approach to religious coercion from the outset of the marriage, using the Hindu victim’s newfound dependency on the marital household as a tool to maximise her vulnerability to conversion pressure. The marital home, which should have been a space of safety and dignity for the Hindu victim, was instead transformed by the perpetrators into a space of sustained religious persecution and coercion, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. The perpetrators’ conduct within the marital home constituted a direct and sustained restriction on the Hindu victim’s ability to practise and maintain her Hindu religious identity. The Hindu victim was subjected to derogatory comments about her Hindu religion by her in-laws, forced to eat beef in direct violation of her Hindu religious beliefs and dietary practices, and pressured to convert to Islam, as part of the sustained campaign to make her abandon her Hindu faith. The deliberate targeting of the Hindu victim’s religious beliefs, dietary practices, and religious identity within her own marital home reflected a calculated and sustained effort to systematically dismantle her Hindu identity from within the most intimate space of her daily life. The perpetrators understood that the marital home represented the space where the Hindu victim was most isolated, most dependent, and most vulnerable, and they exploited that vulnerability deliberately and consistently to mount a sustained campaign of religious restriction and coercion against her Hindu faith and identity. The perpetrators deliberately desecrated the Hindu victim’s religious identity within the marital relationship through a sustained campaign of religious mockery, forced beef consumption, and conversion pressure. The derogatory comments made about the Hindu victim’s religion and place of origin reflected a deliberate and conscious expression of contempt for her Hindu identity, used as a psychological tool to weaken, humiliate, and destabilise her sense of self and belonging within the marital household. By publicly mocking her Hindu religion and questioning her character within the household, the perpetrators sought to create an environment in which the Hindu victim’s Hindu identity was treated as a source of shame and inferiority, making the prospect of conversion appear to her as a path towards social acceptance and relief from the sustained humiliation she endured. The forced consumption of beef, a practice deeply offensive to Hindu religious beliefs and dietary traditions, represented the most direct and visceral desecration of the victim’s Hindu identity within the marital relationship, carried out with explicit intent to sever her connection to Hinduism (revered for the cow as its most sacred animal) and make her susceptible to conversion pressure. There is a historical precedent of Muslim perpetrators force-feeding beef to Hindus precisely for this purpose, as the killing and eating of cow meat is a profound sin and taboo in Hinduism; hence, this act stripped her of her Hindu faith, confirming it as a hate crime. The perpetrators used explicit and sustained blackmail as a central and carefully calculated instrument of their campaign to force the Hindu victim to convert to Islam. The mother-in-law, Gulshan Tashe Patel, retained the Hindu victim’s gold jewellery after the marriage, using it as a material instrument of financial control and leverage over the Hindu victim and her family. The deliberate withholding of the Hindu victim’s own property gave the perpetrators a concrete and tangible means of financial coercion that reinforced the broader campaign of blackmail and intimidation directed at the Hindu victim and her family. The in-laws simultaneously attempted to extort money from the Hindu victim’s parents under the pretext of business needs, extending the financial dimensions of their coercion campaign beyond the marital home and into the Hindu victim’s family network. When the family refused to comply with the financial demands, the perpetrators escalated their blackmail strategy by threatening to defame the Hindu woman publicly, arrange her husband’s second marriage, and burn her alive, reflecting a deliberate and calculated escalation of the blackmail campaign in direct response to the Hindu victim’s family’s refusal to submit to financial extortion. The multi-layered nature of the blackmail campaign, involving the retention of the Hindu victim’s jewellery, the financial extortion of her parents, and the threat of public defamation and physical harm, reflected a sophisticated and premeditated strategy of coercion designed to make conversion to Islam appear to the Hindu victim as the only means of escaping the perpetrators’ escalating threats and demands. The perpetrators subjected the Hindu victim to sustained physical and psychological torture and explicit death threats as a direct and calculated response to her refusal to convert to Islam and comply with their demands. When the Hindu victim refused to comply with the demands to abandon her Hindu faith and convert to Islam, the perpetrators did not cease their campaign but instead escalated it into direct physical violence and explicit threats of lethal harm. She was physically assaulted, subjected to sustained psychological harassment, and threatened with death and burning alive, reflecting a deliberate and premeditated strategy of using the threat of physical annihilation as the ultimate instrument of religious coercion. The deliberate escalation from psychological pressure and blackmail to physical violence and death threats in direct response to the Hindu victim’s refusal to convert reflected a calculated and premeditated willingness on the part of the perpetrators to use any means necessary, including lethal violence, to force the Hindu victim to abandon her Hindu faith. The Hindu victim’s possession of audio recordings documenting the harassment she endured further confirmed the sustained, deliberate, and well-documented nature of the physical and psychological torture directed at her. The perpetrators extended their campaign of coercion and intimidation beyond the Hindu victim herself to her family, using threats and financial extortion directed at her parents as additional instruments of pressure to force her into conversion. The deliberate targeting of the Hindu victim’s parents through financial extortion and the threat of public defamation reflected a calculated strategy of maximising the psychological and financial pressure on the Hindu victim by extending the campaign of intimidation to her closest family members, amplifying the impact of the conversion pressure beyond the marital home and into the Hindu victim’s wider family network. The perpetrators understood that the Hindu victim’s attachment to her family and her concern for their safety and dignity represented an additional vulnerability that could be exploited as a tool of coercion, and they deliberately targeted that vulnerability by making the Hindu victim’s family the subject of financial demands, threats of defamation, and the threat of the Hindu victim being burned alive. The extension of the coercion campaign to the Hindu victim’s family reflected the comprehensive and deeply calculated nature of the perpetrators’ strategy of religious coercion, which left no aspect of the Hindu victim’s life, relationships, or support network untouched by the sustained campaign of intimidation and threat. The broader implications of this case for Hindu women who marry into Muslim families could not be understated. The sustained and multi-dimensional campaign of religious coercion, physical torture, blackmail, financial extortion, and death threats directed at the Hindu victim reflected a pattern of conduct that exploited the vulnerability of Hindu women within Muslim marital households to force them into religious conversion. The Hindu victim’s experience of entering a marital home where her Hindu religious identity was treated as an obstacle to be eliminated through sustained coercion, physical violence, and the threat of death reflected a deeply troubling pattern of religiously motivated abuse directed at Hindu women within marital relationships. The fact that the Hindu victim’s own husband made serious accusations against his mother and brother and demanded an impartial investigation reflected the severity and credibility of the Hindu victim’s account and underscored the profound and sustained nature of the religiously motivated campaign directed against her Hindu identity and personal safety. This was not the first time a Hindu woman from the Tashe family faced coercion for conversion, physical assault, and torture due to her Hindu identity. In February 2026, news emerged of Atif Tashe's wife, a Hindu woman from the same Tashe family, reporting similar instances: sustained pressure to convert, brutal physical assaults, and ongoing torture for refusing to abandon Hinduism, all perpetrated by the Tashe family. This repeated targeting establishes a clear pattern of Hindu women being singled out for predatory relationships, forced religious conversion, exploitation, and violence, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. Given that this case met the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it was added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when a victim's ordeal begins, rather than when the media reports it. In this case, reports did not state the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, only that the Hindu woman married Afshan Tashe Patel in November 2022, with media coverage emerging on 4 March 2026. Hence, an indicative incident date of 4 November 2022 is selected as the start of her ordeal; this is recorded for documentation purposes only.
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 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
