Hindu man and family violently attacked by wife's Muslim family over interfaith marriage; woman had voluntarily returned to Hindu faith

Case ID : ef6567a | Location : Bardhaman, West Bengal, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 26 June, 2025

Case ID : ef6567a

Bardhaman, West Bengal, India

26 June, 2025

Hindu man and family violently attacked by wife's Muslim family over interfaith marriage; woman had voluntarily returned to Hindu faith

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family

Attack resulting in death

Case Summary

In the Galsi area of West Bengal, a Hindu man named Pritam Nandi and his family were subjected to mental torture, legally persecuted and violently attacked for being in an interfaith marriage by his wife's Muslim family members. According to the reports, the Hindu man married a woman named Sultana Parveen, who willingly converted back to Hinduism from Islam, and changed her name to Sathi Nandi. After their marriage, the couple faced relentless hostility from Sathi’s Muslim family, particularly her grandfather Sabir Uddin Ahmed, who is a Trinamool Congress leader. As the girl's family was against their interfaith marriage, they had to face relentless persecution and harassment. Her grandfather, using his political influence, filed a fake kidnapping case against Pritam and his family members. The couple had to flee to Chennai just to protect themselves. However, the court ruled in favour of the couple and allowed them to live together. But even after the court ruling, the threats and harassment did not stop. On June 26, 2025, around 5 PM, a violent mob led by Sabir Uddin Ahmed’s brother, Faiz Uddin Ahmed, stormed Pritam’s house and attempted to forcibly kidnap his wife. Furthermore, Pritam and his family members were violently assaulted by the Muslim mob. Despite the police reaching the location, they failed to take any protective actions. Later that night, Sathi Nandi, due to prolonged mental torture by her family members and the government's refusal to protect her husband and his family, committed suicide. Before taking this extreme step, she had uploaded multiple videos on Facebook highlighting the constant threats to her husband’s life and the inaction of the authorities. Following her death, the Muslim mob returned and launched another violent assault on Pritam’s house. He was brutally beaten and was hospitalised. He was currently undergoing treatment and was said to be in critical condition.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the partner or/and her family attacks 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 or her family starts 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-Hindu 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 or her family. The force/pressure could involve threats. The trigger for directing violence against the Hindu man is in these cases his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. The second category relevant here is- Attack resulting in death. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is assaulted by the non-Hindu woman or her family 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 attack 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu man named Pritam Nandi and his family were systematically harassed, threatened, and violently attacked by the family of his wife, who was a Muslim but converted back to Hinduism. It is important to note here that the couple were adults, thus free to make their own decisions and life choices. Yet it was not acceptable to the girl's Muslim family, who ruthlessly harassed them. The first component which makes it worthy of being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime is that the family of the Muslim woman brutally assaulted her Hindu partner for being in a relationship with her. This was not an isolated outburst but a targeted act driven by a deeply ingrained hostility toward the Hindu identity of the boy. In this case, the relationship was consensual, and the man and woman were with each other, knowing each other’s religious identity fully well. However, 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 their daughter 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, the perpetrator's family believes that such interfaith relationships diminish the family’s ‘honour’. In this case, also, the inherent animosity for the Hindu religion prompted the family of the Muslim girl to brutally assault the Hindu man, making this case worthy of being documented in the tracker. The mob attack on the Hindu man and his family was deliberate, as it was meant to act as a statement to Hindus that if you associate with a Muslim woman, you will be met with violence. In this case, they tortured the family so much that the girl was driven to suicide. The attack was deliberate, public, and meant to reinforce religious boundaries through fear. The justification for such actions stems from the conspiracy theory of ‘Bhagwa Love Trap’, which is explicitly rooted in anti-Hindu sentiment. This false narrative vilifies Hindu men by portraying them as predators targeting Muslim women, despite no basis in reality. It is weaponised to legitimise violence against Hindus, The hostility wasn’t just social or personal; it was religious and ideological. The hatred was not directed at the individual alone but at what he represented: a Hindu man living freely, without converting, and choosing to marry across faith lines. The moment he refused to bend, the attacks escalated—legally, mentally, and physically. His wife was driven to suicide, and even after that, the violence didn’t stop. This was not personal vengeance; it was a hate crime, intended to enforce religious conformity and punish Hindus who do not comply. What makes this case even more concerning is the complete apathy and failure of the administration. Despite repeated pleas for help by Sathi Nandi on social media, highlighting direct threats to her husband’s life, no action was taken. After her suicide, instead of de-escalating, the attackers returned to violently assault the grieving Hindu husband and vandalise his home. The silence of the state machinery in the face of such brutality makes the injustice even more glaring.