Hindu man pressured to convert to Islam after deceptive marriage by a Muslim woman posing as Hindu, assaulted on refusal

Case ID : ea34cae | Location : Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 31 December, 2020

Case ID : ea34cae

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

31 December, 2020

Hindu man pressured to convert to Islam after deceptive marriage by a Muslim woman posing as Hindu, assaulted on refusal

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Forced to convert after marriage

Blackmailed to convert

Torture of family to force man to convert

Assaulted for refusal to convert

Case Summary

In Bhopal, a Hindu man was deceived by a married Muslim woman who is a mother of three children, posing as a Hindu. She forced him to get married in the Arya Samaj Mandir. When the man found out about her Muslim identity, she pressured him to convert to Islam. When he refused, he and his brother were beaten by goons sent by a Muslim woman. The victim, Shekhar Silawat, is a resident of Narmadapuram, currently lives in Yojana Bihar, Chanakyapuri, Bhopal, and works in a private job. He informed the police that he had met the accused, who lived in the same colony. She introduced herself as Shreya. Gradually, the two became friends, and their contact grew through social media. The woman’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were also under the name Shreya. According to Shekhar, since 2021–22, the woman had been pressuring him to marry her. When Shekhar and his family refused the proposal, she threatened to falsely accuse him of rape. She even went as far as sending photos of a razor blade and a noose, threatening suicide and stating that she would name Shekhar in the suicide note. The woman called Shekhar to a temple and told him to simply garland her as a formality, assuring him that they could proceed with the marriage later if the families agreed. Out of fear, Shekhar complied and put the garland on her. Afterwards, both returned to their respective homes. Some time later, Shekhar discovered that the woman’s real name was Nilofar and that she was a Muslim. Moreover, she had already been married and was the mother of three children, facts she had concealed from him. Nilofar then began pressuring Shekhar to convert to Islam and accept her children as his own. Nilofar had used a forged Aadhaar card to present herself as Shreya Silawat. She repeatedly pressured Shekhar to marry her and convert to Islam. Shekhar said that she continues to threaten and mentally harass him. On the night of 18 May, Nilofar arrived at Shekhar’s house with 8–10 goons. They abducted Shekhar and his brother, forced them into a vehicle, and took them under the Bhanpur Bridge, where they were severely beaten. Their mobile phones were also taken away. The assailants threatened Shekhar, saying he must marry Nilofar according to Muslim customs and accept her children. The goons also stole his mobile phone and gold ring. After this, he continued to receive threats that if he ended the relationship, he would be falsely implicated in a rape case. Distressed and fearful, the young man filed a written complaint at the Ashoka Garden police station and has demanded that the marriage conducted at the Arya Samaj temple be annulled. At the time of writing this report, the police had begun investigating the matter based on his complaint.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker un the primary category of - Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. The other sub-category selected is - Forced to convert after marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu woman marries a Hindu man and the force/pressure against the Hindu man to convert to Islam begins after marriage. In such cases, the marriage is consensual in most cases and often, there is no element of the non-Hindu woman hiding her religious identity. 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 woman starts to pressure the Hindu man to convert to Islam after marriage. In such cases, there is application of force/pressure by the perpetrator, including, denial of the man’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the man is forced/pressured to convert include forcing/pressurizing the man to involuntarily consume beef, pressurizing/forcing to read the Kalma, forced circumcision, forced to go to the mosque, etc. There are several instances where after marriage, the man 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 other sub-category selected is - Blackmailed to convert. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is blackmailed to convert his religion. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu woman starts blackmailing a Hindu man to convert his religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu man is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to his family, threats of violence etc. 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 is - Torture of family to force man to convert. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the Hindu spouse is forced to convert his religion. Several methods are used for such forced conversion. The non-Hindu woman and/or her family, and religious leaders are often documented to issue threats and even employ violence. One of the ways used by such perpetrators is threatening and/or torturing the family members of the Hindu man to pressure him to convert. The perpetrators in such cases issue threats to harm or torture the family of the man. In some cases, there is also violence directed towards the family in order to force the Hindu man to convert. The aim of such crimes is to blackmail the victim into changing his religion by inducing fear of harm to his family. 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 is - Assaulted for refusal to convert. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the Hindu man faces assault after he refuses to convert and change his religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu woman or her family. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman or her family starts forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert to Islam and upon his refusal, assaults 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 man 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 man was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. Distinct elements in this particular case demonstrate that the crime was committed while harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith. In this case, a Hindu man ended up in a relationship with a woman who initially claimed to be Hindu. The two got married in an Arya Samaj Mandir. It was only later that he discovered she was actually a Muslim, and from that point on, the situation changed. He began facing repeated pressure to convert to Islam. What makes this particularly concerning is that threats were used to corner him—threats involving suicide, fake rape accusations, and emotional blackmail. Religion was used here not just as a personal identity, but as a tool to trap and manipulate someone. Such actions are not random but are directed specifically at individuals because of their religious affiliation. Whenever an individual deliberately hides his or her religious identity to deceive someone from a different faith into a relationship, he or she intends to exploit the victim based on the religious identity. This is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. This targeted attack is a direct expression of hate and intolerance towards the victim's religion. Here, the situation escalated even further when the man and his brother were kidnapped and beaten. When threats target not just the individual but their family too, it becomes something much deeper than a domestic issue—it becomes targeted, fear-driven coercion tied to one’s beliefs. What’s more disturbing is that the pressure didn’t stop with conversion. He was also forced to consider a marriage under Islamic customs and to accept children that weren’t his. All of this happened because he stood firm in his faith. It wasn’t about love or disagreement but about trying to erase his identity. The violence and threats he faced weren’t random acts; they were clearly rooted in religious intolerance. Hence, this case is added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: Media reports state that the victim's ordeal began when he met the accused in 2021, though no exact date is provided. To document this case, we have used an indicative date—January 1, 2021—as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged in May 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.