Hindu woman lured, deceived, pressured to convert and wear burkha by Muslim man masquerading as Hindu

Case ID : ea34d34 | Location : Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 24 May, 2025

Case ID : ea34d34

Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

24 May, 2025

Hindu woman lured, deceived, pressured to convert and wear burkha by Muslim man masquerading as Hindu

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Forced conversion after marriage

Forced to wear Hijab

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

In the Kamalganj area of Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman was deceived and lured into marriage by a Muslim man posing as a Hindu, who then forced her to convert her religion and wear a hijab. According to the complaint filed by the victim, Mamta, went to Etah jail to meet her siblings, there she met with the Muslim youth who introduced himself as Sunil, saying that he belonged to the Sankhwar caste. The Muslim youth took her number and slowly gained her trust. He later proposed to her for marriage, which the victim accepted, assuming that he was Hindu. The two then got married. Two years after the marriage, Sunil brought Mamta to his residence in Agounapur, Etah, where she found out that his name was Salim and that he was a Muslim. His parents, Sadiq and Najma Begum, and his brothers Irfan and Mobin, were already present at the residence. Mamta stated that she was then pressured to convert to Islam and wear a burqa. Upon her refusal, she was physically assaulted and thrown out of the house. Mamta also stated that Salim continued to harass and threaten her even after she left. Salim also revealed that he was already married and had two children. He further warned her not to marry again or file for divorce, threatening her with dire consequences. As of the date of writing this report, a case was registered by the police against Salim and his family members. The 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 it, the first sub-category selected is: - Man pretends to be Hindu, with the tertiary category being: - Name changed. 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 wear Hijab. 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 woman was lured and deceived by a Muslim man named Salim, who deliberately concealed his religious identity and introduced himself as a Hindu. This itself 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 that reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. This act of deception was not random but a conscious strategy to start a relationship with the Hindu woman and eventually marry her based on false pretences. After the marriage, Salim and his family members pressured the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and wear a burqa. When she refused, she was assaulted and thrown out of the house. Salim continued to harass her, showing the degree to which he was willing to go for her religious conversion. Furthermore, Salim was already married and had children, which also proves that Salim was never interested in a genuine relationship with Mamta, instead, his only goal was the religious conversion of the Hindu woman. Furthermore, the victim was met with violence and harassment when she refused conversion. This use of violence and intimidation was not the result of any personal dispute but brutal efforts to impose religious conformity, showing a complete disregard for the victim's religious freedom and her right to practice her faith. The use of such extreme violence to enforce religious affinity underscores the perpetrator's profound hatred and intolerance toward the victim's faith and beliefs, which is why this case has been added to the hate tracker.