Case Summary

In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu girl named Kavita Maurya was lured, harassed and threatened for religious conversion and Nikah by a Muslim man named Taufiq. According to the complaint filed by the victim, Taufiq trapped her in a love affair and pressured her to change her religion for Nikah (Islamic marriage). Taufiq used to harass her by blocking her way. Even after the victim’s family members urged him not to do such things, he continued his harassment. He used to call the victim repeatedly, mentally tortured her and was constantly pressuring her to convert to Islam. When she refused, he threatened to kill her if she entered the village. Furthermore, the accused also threatened to kill the victim’s office colleague, Avdhesh Sharma, if he continued working with her. He also attempted to change her identity by calling her ‘Shabnam’ and repeatedly addressing her by that name. On October 20, 2024, the victim filed a complaint against Taufiq. The police immediately registered a case under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act and BNS. The district court delivered its verdict on January 28, 2025, convicting Taufiq and sentencing him to three years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 29,000, half of which was to be given to the victim.

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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 - Forced conversion before marriage, with the tertiary category being - Forced to do Nikah. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. 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, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. 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 the situations, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The other sub-category relevant 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 was added to the tracker because a Hindu girl was lured, harassed, and pressured for religious conversion and Nikah by a Muslim man. The demand for conversion in this case was not incidental but a prerequisite for the Islamic marital procedure of Nikah. The Hindu girl was pressured to abandon her religion in order to be made eligible for Nikah. This demonstrated that the perpetrator’s objective was not limited to pursuing a relationship with a Hindu girl but was directed towards compelling her to renounce her Hindu identity. Such acts are rooted in longstanding animosity and prejudice against Hindus and their beliefs, making this a religiously motivated hate crime. Furthermore, the accused also threatened to kill her when she refused conversion, clearly indicating that the religious conversion would be achieved even if he needed to resort to violence. Here, threats were used as tools for enforcing religious conformity. By trying to rename her ‘Shabnam’ and repeatedly addressing her by that name, he also attempted to strip her of her Hindu identity, severing any form of connection that she had with her Hindu faith. Such actions stemmed from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith, since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent is subject to being dehumanised until they convert. This further proved the lengths to which he was willing to go just to induce conversion. Since such predatory actions stemmed from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case was documented as a religiously motivated hate crime. This case was on the lines of a broader pattern wherein Hindu women were systematically drawn into exploitative relationships by non-Hindu men. Such acts, when executed under a religious pretext and with deliberate rejection of the Hindu identity of the victim, constituted a grave form of religious animosity. In such cases, the intent was not merely personal control, but the erasure of the Hindu character of the individual, using coercive and humiliating means. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the FIR was filed. While media coverage of the incident emerged on August 19, 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.