Hindu woman raped under pretext of marriage and pressured to convert to Islam by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Case ID : ef655ca | Location : Delhi, Delhi, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 31 May, 2021

Case ID : ef655ca

Delhi, Delhi, India

31 May, 2021

Hindu woman raped under pretext of marriage and pressured to convert to Islam by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Forced conversion before marriage

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Case Summary

In Delhi, a Hindu woman was deceived into a relationship by a Muslim man named Faizal Mughal, who had deliberately hidden his Muslim identity and masqueraded as Rahul, a Hindu. He raped and sexually exploited the Hindu victim for three years under a false pretext of marriage while maintaining his fabricated identity. Later, he also pressured the Hindu victim to convert to Islam. Reports suggest that the victim, a resident of Uttar Pradesh and a second-year BA student, met Faizal on Facebook in June 2021. He, back then, had posed as Rahul and befriended the victim. He consistently presented himself as Rahul, carefully hiding his real identity. He avoided any outward signs of his Islamic faith. He never wore a Muslim cap and participated in Hindu practices to reinforce his deception. This behaviour led the woman to trust him. In 2022, Faizal invited her to meet him at the Pooja Palace Hotel in the Nabi Karim area, where he sexually exploited her under the pretext of marriage. In 2023, she visited Delhi again and was subjected to further sexual assault and rape by Faizal. The victim stated that he forced her to undergo two abortions by giving her abortion pills. Following this, when the woman pressed the issue of marriage, Faizal insisted that he would only marry her if she converted to Islam. It was at this point that the victim discovered Faizal's true identity, leaving her deeply hurt by the betrayal and the sexual exploitation. She immediately went to the nearest police station and filed a complaint against Faizal. The police registered a case of rape under Section 376 and arrested Faizal. The police then launched investigations to determine whether the accused had similarly targeted other women.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within this, the first subcategory selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. Within this, the tertiary category selected is- 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 other subcategory selected is- Brainwashed and/ or groomed. Within this, the tertiary category selected is- Rape and Sexual Assault/ Harassment. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. The other subcategory selected is- Forced conversion before marriage. 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. This particular case showcases that the crime against the Hindu woman by the Muslim perpetrator was committed due to bias and hatred against the victim's Hindu faith. Firstly, the Hindu woman was lured into a relationship by a Muslim man who had concealed his religious identity by posing as a Hindu to trap her. This deliberate deception and subsequent exploitation demonstrate clear bias and malicious intent towards the victim due to her religion. By adopting a false Hindu identity, the perpetrator exploited the victim's trust and specifically targeted her based on her religious background, indicating a premeditated attack on the Hindu woman and a disregard for her religious customs and beliefs. The Muslim perpetrator was well aware that the victim being Hindu would most likely not be in a romantic relationship with him if she knew his real identity, so he targeted her by concealing his identity and thereafter raped her multiple times under the pretext of marriage. Further, the victim also stated that the perpetrator would always try to show the victim that he was a Hindu by participating in Hindu religious activities. Such actions are not random but are well-calculated efforts aimed at targeting the Hindu woman because of her religious affiliation. Whenever a man deliberately hides his religious identity to deceive a woman from a different faith into a relationship, he intends to exploit the woman based on her 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 and her faith; hence, this is one of the primary reasons for this case to be classified as a religious hate crime. Furthermore, when the Hindu woman reiterated the idea of marriage, the Muslim perpetrator forced her to convert to Islam. This highlights that this was not simply a case of rape and sexual exploitation, but an attempt to strip the Hindu victim of her religious identity and pressure her to convert to Islam. These actions reflect that the Muslim perpetrator had deep-seated religious animosity towards the victim due to her professed faith. It also suggests that the victim was specifically targeted to further the underlying agenda of religious conversion. In several such cases, Muslim perpetrators often engage in such acts of deception and exploitation of Hindu women with the intent to undermine their faith, reflecting deep-seated religious animosity and hostility towards Hinduism and the Hindu community on the whole. This targeting is indicative of a broader pattern of religiously motivated hostility and attempts to erode the religious identity of Hindu victims. Such actions are rooted in a deep-seated doctrinal contempt for non-Abrahamic religions, particularly Hinduism. Many adherents of Abrahamic faiths view polytheism as inferior or false and, as a result, see no ethical dilemma in dehumanising Hindus or coercing them, directly or indirectly, until they abandon their faith. The targeting based on religion using deceit, combined with rape under pretext of marriage, and pressure to convert, is what makes this case a hate crime against a Hindu woman and justifies its inclusion in the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The media report on this case does not specify the exact date when the victim’s ordeal began. The only indication is that it occurred in June 2021, when she first met the perpetrator. As Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when the victim’s ordeal began, rather than the date of reporting, an indicative date of 1st June 2021 has been used, although the incident was reported in the media on 25th June 2025.