Hindu girl sexually and financially exploited by Muslim youth; pretened to be Hindu to lure the girl

Case ID : e274c9d | Location : Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 15 July, 2023

Case ID : e274c9d

Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

15 July, 2023

Hindu girl sexually and financially exploited by Muslim youth; pretened to be Hindu to lure the girl

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Case Summary

In Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu girl was lured and trapped into a relationship and was sexually and financially exploited by a Muslim man named Maqsood. According to the Hindu girl, Maqsood had initially befriended her through social media over two years ago by concealing his religious identity. Gradually, their friendship developed into a romantic relationship. During this time, he recorded obscene videos of her and began extorting money from her. He threatened her that if she refused to give money, he would leak those videos online. The victim stated that she had already paid him a total of ₹2.5 lakh, of which ₹50,000 was transferred online. Furthermore, Maqsood called the girl to a hotel in Pratapgarh and demanded an additional ₹4 lakh, again threatening to leak the video online. The girl’s family, having learned of the situation, reached the hotel. Enraged by the deceit and subsequent exploitation of the victim, they apprehended and physically assaulted Maqsood. He was handed over to the police, who later admitted him to a hospital for treatment. As of the date of writing this report, a case was registered by the police against Maqsood. The investigation was ongoing.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Man pretends to be Hindu, with the tertiary category being: - Name changed. 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu girl was lured into a relationship for sexual and financial exploitation by a Muslim man, who pretended to be Hindu. The perpetrator deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with the 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. The accused also financially exploited her through blackmail with obscene videos. This indicates that the deceit was calculated, deliberate, and sustained over a period of time. The nature of the deception, the sustained abuse, and the psychological and financial coercion all point to the fact that the targeting of the victim was not random but specifically rooted in her religious identity, making the case one of religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the woman’s ordeal began, though it is stated that they got acquainted about 2 years ago through social media. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date — July 16, 2023 — as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on July 16, 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.