Hindu woman beaten and coerced into conversion and Nikah by Muslim man; idols of Hindu deities smashed to humiliate her
Nuh, Haryana, India 
10 June, 2020
Case Summary
In the Nuh district of Haryana, a Hindu woman named Sheela alias Kanchan was targeted, physically assaulted and forcibly converted by a Muslim man named Azam. The accused also destroyed idols of Hindu deities in an attempt to humiliate her. According to reports, the woman, belonging to Hamirpur district, Uttar Pradesh, was living in Nuh for several years along with her two children. She was previously married to a man named Chhuttan, a labourer, but their family life collapsed due to his drug addiction and criminal activities. Chhuttan was later imprisoned in a murder case, leaving Sheela to work as a labourer to raise their children. In 2020, Sheela met the Muslim accused, Azam, who lured her and won her trust by expressing love and promising to support her and her children. He took Sheela and the children to Noida, Panipat, and later Bhiwadi, and kept them in a rented house. In June 2020, the accused brought a Maulana and forcibly converted the Hindu woman by threatening her and making her recite the Kalma. They even changed her name to Saiba and made her undergo Nikah (Islamic marriage) with the accused. Following the conversion and Nikah, Azam's behaviour changed completely. He destroyed the idols of Hindu deities in the house and physically assaulted her and her children. He exploited her and tortured her mentally and physically. The victim later discovered that Azam was already married and had children. When she reached Azam's native village and contacted Azam's family, Azam's first wife and relatives attacked her. Sheela managed to escape and returned to her house in Nuh, but Azam followed her and continued to live with her and the children. Based on the complaint filed by the victim, the police arrested Azam, marking the first arrest under the anti-conversion law in Nuh. As of the date of writing this report, the investigation was ongoing.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category in this case is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The first subcategory under this is - Forced conversion before marriage. The tertiary category under this is: 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 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. The other sub-category selected here is - Desecration of Hindu symbols in relationship. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces insult and desecration of her faith (Hinduism) and its symbol because of the inherent disregard for polytheism of the non-Hindu partner. 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 desecrating the religious symbols of the Hindu partner out of spite for her faith. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The other sub-category selected here is - Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary category being - Rape and sexual assault/harassment. 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. This case has been added to the tracker because the Hindu woman was targeted, physically assaulted, and forcibly converted by the Muslim accused. The accused lured and emotionally manipulated the woman by promising to support her and her children. The nature of the relationship suggested that the Hindu woman was initially led to believe that her faith would not be a barrier to their romantic involvement. However, in the Islamic faith, the conversion of the non-Muslim partner was seen as a prerequisite for Nikah, in which she was forcibly converted to Islam before the Nikah. The conversion in such cases was not a by-product of personal association but a deliberate act aimed at erasing her Hindu identity in order to make her eligible for Nikah. The act of forcing Nikah in this way was essentially an attack on her religious autonomy, turning marriage into a vehicle for religious subjugation. This demonstrates a targeted strategy directed against an individual specifically because of animosity towards her religious identity. The accused’s actions demonstrated not only exploitation but also deep-seated disrespect for the victim’s faith and religious autonomy. The victim, along with her children, was then exploited and subjected to mental and physical torture by the accused. This form of violence is emblematic of religiously motivated aggression, where the accused uses acts that are deeply offensive and incompatible with the victim’s beliefs in order to subjugate, humiliate, and break her religious will so that she submits to the demands of the accused. The accused even changed her name in an effort to further alienate the victim from her Hindu identity. It was meant to represent her severing her connection to her previous Hindu life. This is not random violence; it is systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. The accused also desecrated idols of Hindu deities inside the home. In Hinduism, idols of Hindu deities are not just artistic representations but are deeply revered manifestations of the divine. Their desecration or an attack on them is a direct affront to the religious sentiments of Hindus and an act of profound disrespect. Such acts of violence against Hindu idols are acts of violence against the religious sentiments of the Hindu community that derive spiritual, cultural, and social meaning from such religious symbols. Such actions target the identity, beliefs, and dignity of Hindus. Thus, desecrating the idols of Hindu deities was an attempt to sever her from her spiritual roots and cultural identity. He was trying to erase any visible markers of her Hindu faith, which was not only an attempt at religious conversion but also about subjugation and cultural annihilation. 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: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. The earliest date mentioned is June 2020, when the victim was forcibly converted by the accused. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date, June 11, 2020, as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on September 11, 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported. Disclaimer: Since the accused also assaulted the victim's two children, the number of victims has been recorded as three.
Victim Details
Total Victim
3
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 2
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 3
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 2
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
