A Hindu woman commits suicide after after a Muslim man feigns his religious identity and lures her, pressurises her to convert to Islam
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
11 April, 2023
Case Summary
On April 12, 2023, in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Renu Kashyap, who lived near Haribansh Mohal Shanidev Temple, committed suicide by hanging herself. The police registered a case and arrested the accused Shahrukh. Renu, who was preparing for competitive exams, became friends with a boy named 'Saurabh'. After a few days, Renu came to know that the person she had befriended was not Saurabh but Shahrukh. Renu started maintaining distance from him. Angered by this, Shahrukh threatened Renu and started pressuring her to convert to Islam and marry him. He threatened to defame her on social media if she did not comply. He also threatened to tell everything to her father and brother. Troubled by the threats, Renu stopped picking up Shahrukh's calls. On April 12, 2023, Shahrukh came near Renu's house. Scared by this, Renu took her life by hanging herself.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
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. What gives this case a distinct religious angle is that the Muslim perpetrator actively hid his religion and pretended to be a Hindu to ensnare the Hindu woman. He inflicted torture and threatened the Hindu victim to convert to Islam, forcing the victim to end her life. Since the religious motive of the crime is evident here, this case has been documented as a hate crime.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
1
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 
