Hindu girl forcibly converted and married under Nikah by Muslim youth posing as Hindu in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh
Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
22 August, 2025
Case Summary
In the Kashiram Colony area of Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu girl was deceived, harassed, forcibly married, and converted to Islam by a Muslim youth, Aftab Ansari, who had concealed his identity by posing as a Hindu. According to reports, both the girl and Aftab participated in local religious plays, playing characters such as Ram–Sita and Shiv–Parvati, which brought them together. During that time, the accused introduced himself as a Hindu man named Raj and deceived the girl into a relationship. The accused then married the victim as per Hindu customs, in a Hindu temple. After marriage, when the truth came out that the accused's real name was Aftab Ansari and that he was a Muslim, there was a lot of opposition from the girl's family; however, she decided to stay with him. During that time, the girl's mother also passed away, which made her emotionally vulnerable and dependent on Aftab. Exploiting this situation, the accused converted her to Islam and forcibly performed Nikah with her. When the victim opposed the forced conversion and Nikah, Aftab locked her in a room, physically assaulted her, and threatened to abandon her for another marriage. His family members also kept her under constant surveillance, preventing her from seeking help. Even her name was changed and given a Muslim name, Zainab Ansari. The victim reached the police station to complain, but the police dismissed her and took no action. She later approached Vikas, the national president of Hindu Sher Sena (a Hindu organisation), and recounted her ordeal. With his intervention, a complaint was filed at Ramkot police station, following which Aftab Ansari alias Raj was arrested. As of the date of writing this report, police confirmed that an 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 this, the first subcategory selected is - Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary category selected is- Name Changed 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 and deceived into a relationship and marriage by a Muslim man, who pretended to be Hindu. The perpetrator deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu girl. This 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, reflecting a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. Moreover, the Muslim accused married the Hindu girl as per Hindu customs inside a Hindu temple, to further mislead her into believing that he was a Hindu. The choice to marry her in a temple, a sacred space for Hindus, further highlights the malicious intent behind the act. This is a significant violation of the woman’s religious beliefs, as it exploits her faith and religious practices to entrap her in a marriage founded on lies. The use of a temple marriage serves to legitimise the union in the eyes of the woman and her community, making the deception all the more egregious. Furthermore, the accused also pressured her for religious conversion and Nikah after the victim's mother passed away. The timing of such actions was deliberate and malicious. The accused targeted her for conversion when she was emotionally vulnerable, and he exploited that vulnerability to force her into conversion. When she did not budge, he resorted to physical violence and isolation to break the victim down emotionally, physically, and spiritually, so that she could be converted. This was not random violence; it was systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. She was forcibly given a Muslim name to further alienate her from her Hindu identity. This act goes beyond mere criminal behaviour; it is a calculated and malicious attack on her religious identity. 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 until 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: It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, since the Hinduphobia tracker records the incident based on when the victim's ordeal began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when it was reported in the media.
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
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
