Hindu man killed after interfaith marriage with Muslim woman, family accuses Muslim brother-in-law

Case ID : ef654ae | Location : Bhagalpur, Bihar, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 16 June, 2025

Case ID : ef654ae

Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

16 June, 2025

Hindu man killed after interfaith marriage with Muslim woman, family accuses Muslim brother-in-law

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Killed by non-Hindu partner's family

Case Summary

In Bhagalpur, Bihar, a Hindu man named Ravi Yadav was killed by his Muslim brother-in-law, Shabbir, after marrying a Muslim woman named Shabina Parveen. The family of the deceased stated that Shabbir had murdered Ravi. According to reports, Ravi married Shabina, who lived in his neighbourhood, in a love marriage in 2023. Ravi and Shabina had a nine-month-old son from their marriage. On the day of the incident, Shabina's brother Shabbir came to their home and took Ravi away on some pretext. Ravi went with him, and his phone was switched off soon after. The next day, his body was found lying on the road. Ravi's family discovered his body and was horrified. His mother said her son was murdered as part of a conspiracy, and his body was dumped in a deserted place. She had accused Shabina's brother, Shabbir, of murder and demanded strict action against him. The police were informed, and a complaint was registered. The police then began an investigation into this matter. Ravi's body was sent for post-mortem examination. This incident led to widespread discussion among locals in the area regarding Ravi's murder.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the category of- Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within this, the sub-category selected is- Killed by non-Hindu partner’s family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced/pressured to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the family of the non-Hindu partner murders the victim. 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 and her family start forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman’s family. The pressure could involve threats. The trigger to murdering the Hindu man in these cases is his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is murdered by the family of the non-Hindu woman simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the murder is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. In this case, a Hindu youth was found dead under mysterious conditions. His mother explicitly accused the Hindu youth's Muslim brother-in-law of killing her son. Since the motive for the crime isn't laid out explicitly, people may argue that it is possible that the crime was not motivated by religion, and as such, it should not be included in this tracker. Therefore, at this point, it becomes essential to understand why then, we have added this case to the hate crime database. In this case, two primary factors establish that it was a religiously motivated hate crime. The first component which makes it worthy of being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime is the testimony of the family of the deceased Hindu victim. The mother of the Hindu youth herself testified that her son was killed by his Muslim brother-in-law, after he married his Muslim sister. Second, this case should be included in this database because the victim is no longer alive, and there is a precedent of such cases turning out to be hate crimes against Hindu men. In several cases where a Hindu man is in a relationship with a Muslim woman, the family of the Muslim woman ends up assaulting or murdering the man because of their disapproval of the relationship. In such cases, the relationship is consensual, and the man and woman are with each other, knowing each other’s identity fully well. Such cases are often called ‘honour killings’ and are seen in associations across religions, castes, economic strata, etc. In several such cases, the motivations for the violence or murder are stated and clear. For example, in some cases, the perpetrators would clearly mention what their main motivation to commit the crime was, whether it was because the partner was economically weaker, from a different caste or religion. In some cases, however, the motives are not stated and/or reported. To determine whether such cases are religiously motivated hate crimes, in the absence of a clearly stated motive, one has to understand what could possibly be the main factor which the perpetrator's family would believe diminishes the family’s ‘honour’, leading to the crime. For the purpose of this tracker, we would only be looking at cases where one of the determining factors of the crime is religion, which is to say that the man belongs to the Hindu faith and the woman to a non-Hindu faith. In such cases, even if the motivation is not stated, it can be said that the determining factor or at least one of the main considerations, leading to the crime would be the religious identity of the Hindu man, especially if the woman in the relationship is a Muslim. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is deemed illegitimate if the non-Muslim partner does not convert to Islam. For those who practice the faith, when the Muslim woman in their family marries a Hindu man without the man converting to Islam, the difference in religions followed becomes the main point of disapproval for the family of the Muslim woman. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islam, even if the motivations are not explicit, it can reasonably be concluded as one of the determining factors of the assault or murder committed by the Muslim family against the Hindu man. In this case, the killing of Ravi Yadav in Bhagalpur, Bihar, is an instance of a hate crime targeting a Hindu man for marrying a Muslim woman. Ravi married Shabina Parveen in a love marriage. The relationship was consensual, but he was subsequently found murdered. As per the deceased's family, Shabina's brother, Shabbir, killed Ravi. The family directly blamed members of his Muslim wife's family, specifically Shabina's brother, for Ravi's murder, highlighting the communal angle and suggesting that Ravi was targeted because of his Hindu identity and his decision to marry a Muslim woman. Such incidents, where Hindu men are murdered by the family of a Muslim woman, are deeply rooted in religious disdain, disapproval, and hatred towards the Hindu man because of his religious identity. Therefore, this case warrants inclusion in the hate crime database.