Hindu girl raped by Muslim man posing as Hindu; pressured to convert by Muslim woman using threats and manipulation

Case ID : ef6551a | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 5 January, 2023

Case ID : ef6551a

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

5 January, 2023

Hindu girl raped by Muslim man posing as Hindu; pressured to convert by Muslim woman using threats and manipulation

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Case Summary

In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a Hindu girl was raped and blackmailed by a Muslim man named Fardeen Khan, who posed as a Hindu to trap the victim. A Muslim woman, Zoya Khan, also pressured her for religious conversion. According to the victim, she met the accused in 2020-21 when she went to her grandmother's house during the COVID-19 lockdown. The accused, Fardeen Khan, originally from Guna, pretended to be a Hindu man named Kamal. He eventually lured and befriended her and on January 6, 2023, when the victim was alone at her grandmother’s house, Fardeen entered the house and raped her. He also took objectionable photos and videos of her during the assault, which he later used to blackmail her. He again raped her on February 19, 2023 by threatening her and taking her to a friend's room. Over the next two years, he continued to sexually exploit her. The victim was initially unaware of Fardeen’s true identity and believed him to be Kamal. His true identity was revealed on January 6, 2025, when the victim was visiting Guna for a family function, the accused took her to a hotel. While checking into a hotel, both were asked to show their Aadhaar cards. The victim discovered that Kamal's real name was Fardeen Khan, and he is a Muslim. When she confronted him about the deception, he threatened to leak the obscene photos and videos online and again raped her. The victim sought help from her school friend Zoya Khan. However, instead of offering support, Zoya pressured her to convert to Islam if she wanted to marry Fardeen. Zoya further threatened the victim that if she refused to convert, then Fardeen would leak her pictures and videos online. The matter came to light when the victim's mother noticed changes in her daughter's behaviour and checked her mobile phone. On discovering the objectionable content, the family approached the police with the help of Hindu organisations. Based on the victim’s complaint, the police registered an FIR against Fardeen Khan and Zoya Khan under relevant sections. As of the date of writing this report, the investigation was ongoing and efforts were being made to apprehend both the accused.

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 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 primary category selected here is: - Predatory proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The other sub-category relevant here is: - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu girl was raped by a Muslim man who pretended to be Hindu in order to lure her into a deceptive relationship. The accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with the Hindu victim. He was never interested in a genuine relationship; his only goal was the sexual exploitation of a Hindu girl. 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. The victim was also pressured for religious conversion by her school friend Zoya Khan. Instead of acknowledging the crime committed by a fellow Muslim, Fardeen, Zoya took advantage of the victim’s emotional vulnerability and attempted to blackmail her. She told the victim that if she wanted to marry Fardeen, she would have to convert to Islam. Rather than condemning the abuse, Zoya used it as leverage and manipulated the victim for religious conversion. She subtly threatened the victim by saying that if she refused to convert, Fardeen would leak her private photos and videos online. Zoya exploited the victim’s mental state to push her towards conversion. It symbolises a predatory strategy which exploits a victim's emotionally and mentally vulnerable state in order to force religious conversion. Zoya’s actions align with tactics of religious grooming and indoctrination, which often occur under the guise of advice, friendship, or emotional manipulation. This act goes beyond mere criminal behaviour; it is a calculated and malicious attack on her religious identity. By assuming a false Hindu identity, the Muslim perpetrator at first betrayed the girl's trust, manipulating her into a situation where he could coerce her into abandoning her faith. Further, the use of blackmail to force conversion is a clear demonstration of religious hate, as it targets the victim's religious beliefs and seeks to erase her identity. This case is a glaring example of how deep-seated intolerance can manifest in violent and coercive actions, with the ultimate goal of religious subjugation and domination. The deliberate nature of the deception and the subsequent attempt to force conversion highlight the extent of disdain the accused harboured for the victim's faith. This behaviour stems 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. The victim here was not just violated physically but was also targeted psychologically and spiritually for her religious identity. 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: Media reports do not specify the exact date and only mention that the victim met the accused during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020–2021. The next earliest date mentioned is January 6, 2023, when the victim was lured by the accused. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records the date when the crime occurred, rather than when it was reported, we have selected January 6, 2023, as the placeholder of when the victim's ordeal began, even though the incident was reported in the media on 20th June 2025.