Hindu girl deceived into marriage, forcibly converted and tortured by Muslim man posing as Hindu in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh
Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, India 
5 August, 2017
Case Summary
In Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu girl was deceived into marriage, exploited and tortured for religious conversion by a Muslim man named Azam Hasan Sheikh. The accused concealed his Muslim identity by pretending to be Hindu. According to reports, the victim came into contact with the accused in 2017 at the inauguration of a shopping mall. The accused concealed his religious identity and introduced himself as a Hindu man named Vineet Singh. The accused used to apply a tilak on his forehead in order to give credibility to his fake Hindu identity. Azam, under the fake Hindu identity, gradually built a relationship with the girl and eventually married her in December 2017 at Khaira Mandir (Hindu temple) in Gonda, according to Hindu customs. After the marriage, the girl began living with him, unaware of his real identity. When she discovered that her husband was not Vineet Singh, but actually a Muslim man named Azam, she protested. In response, Azam took her to his family home in Kolkata, West Bengal. There, she met his father, Akbar Ali, mother Rashida, and sister-in-law Manuja. The family began pressuring the Hindu girl to convert to Islam. During this time, the Hindu girl was pregnant and was under constant pressure to convert. She was physically assaulted and taken to a local Maulvi who forcibly converted her and got her married as per Muslim customs (Nikah). The victim stated that, on the instructions of the Maulvi, Azam’s family members forced her to abort her child. The victim somehow managed to escape from Kolkata and returned to her parental home in Gonda, where she received medical treatment. However, her ordeal still didn’t stop as the accused started blackmailing her, threatening to leak her private photographs. As of the date of writing this report, a case was registered by the police against Azam Hasan Sheikh and his family members for deception, forced conversion, assault, blackmail, and other related offences. The investigation was ongoing.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary category selected is- Name Changed, Wears symbols of Hinduism and Marries as per Hindu rituals. 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. The second sub-category selected here is - Forced conversion after marriage, with the tertiary category being - Forced to do Nikah. In such cases, a non-Hindu man marries a Hindu woman, and the force/pressure to convert to 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 to Islam 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. The third sub-category selected 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu girl was lured into a relationship and marriage by a Muslim man who pretended to be Hindu. The accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a 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 deliberate use of Hindu religious symbols to gain trust and misrepresent one’s identity reflects not only calculated deceit but also an underlying bias against the victim’s faith. By exploiting the sanctity of Hindu symbols to further his communal agenda, the accused demonstrated a deliberate disrespect for Hinduism. A Tilak holds deep spiritual significance within Hinduism, and so does the temple. Using them as tools of deception not only violates the trust placed in religious identity but also amounts to a desecration of sacred symbols. It reflects religious insensitivity and shows disregard for Hindu beliefs and practices, which highlights the religious dimension of the crime. When the accused's true identity was revealed, he took the victim to his hometown in Kolkata. This was an effort to physically and mentally isolate the girl so as to make her conversion easier. He essentially cut her off from her family members, her religious or cultural identity, or any form of social support system she had in her hometown. The Muslim accused then started pressuring her to convert to Islam. This clearly demonstrated that the accused's actions were aimed at making her completely abandon her Hindu faith. This instance makes it clear that the entire chain of events was a premeditated effort to convert a Hindu girl to Islam, driven by deep-seated religious animosity towards her Hindu identity. Such acts are rooted in longstanding hostility and prejudice against the Hindu victim and her religious beliefs and identity, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. Furthermore, when the victim refused to convert, she was physically assaulted by the accused and taken to a Maulvi for conversion. The accused and his family were hell bent on converting the Hindu girl, totally disregarding the fact that she was pregnant and in a vulnerable position. The goal was not only to subjugate the woman but to erase her Hindu identity. By assaulting her, they attempted to instil fear and force compliance for religious conversion. This harassment and violence were not random; they were directly linked to her religious identity and her refusal to change it. Such threats are a form of psychological terror, aiming to harass the victim for her faith and are meant to break resistance and wear down the victim emotionally and psychologically. This is not random violence; it is systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: Media reports state that the victim's ordeal began when she met the accused in 2017, though no exact date or month is provided. To document this case, we have used an indicative date—August 6, 2017—as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on August 6, 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.
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 filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
