Hindu woman deceived in relationship by Buddhist man posing as Hindu, forced to convert religion after marriage

Case ID : e2750e3 | Location : Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 4 August, 2023

Case ID : e2750e3

Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

4 August, 2023

Hindu woman deceived in relationship by Buddhist man posing as Hindu, forced to convert religion after marriage

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Forced conversion after marriage

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Victim says she was brainwashed/groomed

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

A Hindu woman named Payal Yadav was forced to convert her religion after marrying a Buddhist man. Payal, daughter of an army serviceman from Deori Road, lodged a complaint in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, against her husband and in-laws for harassment, assault, and pressure to convert to Buddhism. According to her statement, Payal met Amardeep Sudhar Rao Kamble while studying at a coaching centre in Chennai. She said Amardeep lured her into a relationship. After completing her studies, she worked at a private company in Noida. She was lured to Wardha, Maharashtra, on the pretext of getting a good job, and Amardeep later had a court marriage on 05 August 2023. On 15 February 2025, a customary marriage was held with her family’s involvement. Following the marriage, Payal stated that her husband, Amardeep, her mother-in-law, Archana Kamble, and her father-in-law, Sudhar Rao Kamble, began harassing her for additional dowry, demanding a flat. When she resisted, she was assaulted. She also said that her mother-in-law objected to her worship and that the family later revealed they followed Buddhism. They pressured her to convert and subjected her to violence when she refused. Payal further stated that loans were fraudulently taken in her name, the repayment of which was still being borne by her and her father. On her complaint, Gorakhpur police registered a case under the orders of Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar, and the Sadar police station began an investigation into the matter.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category in this case is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The subcategory under this is: Forced conversion after marriage. 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. Another subcategory under this is: Brainwashed or groomed. The tertiary category selected within this is- Victim says she was brainwashed/groomed. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. Another subcategory under this 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 pressurising 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 religious pressure was used in the marriage to break her freedom of choice. Payal’s complaint shows that Amardeep Sudhar Rao Kamble concealed his Buddhist faith during their relationship, only for the truth to surface after marriage. What began as a relationship built on trust quickly turned into a campaign to strip her of her Hindu identity. Once married, Payal was subjected not only to harassment for dowry but also to direct pressure to abandon her faith. Her mother-in-law resisted her acts of worship, while the family collectively demanded that she convert to Buddhism. Violence was used as a means to enforce this demand, leaving Payal physically and emotionally violated. The concealment of Amardeep’s religious identity before marriage is critical. It deprived Payal of the freedom to make an informed choice about her future, and it created conditions for manipulation. Once bound by law and custom to him, she faced the full weight of familial and social pressure. The forced conversion element transforms the case from a domestic dispute into one with broader communal implications, for it was her Hindu identity that became the object of attack. Notably, she was lured to Wardha under the pretext of getting her a good job, and then, later, Amardeep married her in a court marriage. This angle explicitly shows the angle of manipulation and luring. Amardeep first lured her for a job and then married her in court by manipulating her. Also, dowry harassment, while grave in itself, was not the only factor at play. The suppression of her faith and the insistence on changing her religion reveal hostility towards her Hindu background. This goes beyond financial exploitation; it constitutes an attempt to erase her cultural and spiritual self. For these reasons, the incident is included in the Hinduphobia Tracker. It exemplifies how women can be targeted through relationships, not merely for economic gain but for religious transformation, with violence and intimidation used to compel submission. Payal’s experience underscores how religious coercion within marriage must be recognised as a hate crime against Hindus. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. The earliest date mentioned is August 05, 2023, when Pooja married Amardeep. Since the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, rather than when it was reported, we have considered the date of the incident to be August 05, 2023, although the media reported the incident on August 19, 2025.