Elderly Hindu woman beaten, threatened, and forced to convert by Islam by Muslims

Case ID : e274b75 | Location : Ramnagar, Uttarakhand, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 8 July, 2025

Case ID : e274b75

Ramnagar, Uttarakhand, India

8 July, 2025

Elderly Hindu woman beaten, threatened, and forced to convert by Islam by Muslims

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In Ramnagar, Uttarakhand, an elderly Hindu woman named Ramdulari Devi, aged 65, was physically assaulted, threatened, and forced to convert to Islam by a few Muslim youths. According to reports, the victim lived alone in her village and had no family. She stated that, for some time, a few Muslim youths had been coercing her to convert to Islam. They had also physically assaulted and threatened her in order to force her to convert. The victim further stated that she had informed narrated her ordeal to many people in the village, but she received no help from the villagers. Distressed by this, the woman met with the Circle Officer (CO) of Ramnagar and submitted her complaint. CO Sumit Pandey registered Ramdulari's complaint and stated that the Ramnagar Kotwali police had been instructed to investigate and take immediate action. He also assured that an impartial investigation would be conducted, and action would be taken based on the evidence gathered. In this case, a local Hindu resident named Hridesh Sharma raised concerns, urging the administration to take strict action against the culprits as soon as possible.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, 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. In this case, the central issue is that the Hindu victim, Ramdulari Devi, was forced to convert to Islam by a group of Muslim youths. This demonstrates that the Muslim perpetrators specifically targeted her because of her Hindu identity. The victim was an elderly woman and also a widow. The accused took advantage of this vulnerability of the victim and attempted to coerce her into abandoning her faith. This is a direct violation of her religious freedom and a profound assault on her personal beliefs. Forcing someone to change their religion under duress not only undermines their faith but also reveals a deep-seated animosity towards their religious identity. When conversions are carried out through pressure rather than personal choice, it is clear that the perpetrators harbour strong religious hostility towards the victim's faith, in this instance, towards Hinduism. Such actions are rooted in prejudice and intolerance, making this a clear example of a religiously motivated crime. Beyond the forced conversion, Ramdulari Devi was physically assaulted and threatened with further harm if she did not comply. These acts of violence were not arbitrary; they were directed at her solely because she is a Hindu. Assaulting and threatening someone on the basis of their religion, and using violence or intimidation to carry out forced conversions, are clear demonstrations of a religiously motivated crime. Such actions instil fear and insecurity among Hindu individuals, making them vulnerable to further acts of coercion and violence. Given that this crime was motivated by religious bias, it meets the criteria for classification as a hate crime and has therefore it has been added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: Some X handles have reported that the perpetrators were Muslims and were attempting to coerce the victim into converting to Islam, while others have not specified the religious identity of the accused. Based on the sources that have provided this information, Hinduphobia Tracker has currently identified the perpetrators as Muslim. Should evidence emerge indicating that the individuals involved belong to another Abrahamic faith, the case details will be updated accordingly.