Hindu man forcefully converted to Islam to marry Muslim woman
Dhampur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
7 February, 2025
Case Summary
A young Hindu man from Sahuwala Tanda village in Dhampur, Uttar Pradesh, was forced to convert to Islam to marry a Muslim woman. The incident occurred when the young man, who worked at a medical store in Dhampur, fell in love with a girl from another community. Initially, the girl's family opposed the relationship but later agreed on the condition that the young man convert and marry their daughter. The couple arranged a wedding ceremony on February 8 at the girl's house. During the ceremony, the Qazi performing the Nikah asked the young man for his Aadhaar card. When he refused to provide it, the Qazi grew suspicious and fled the scene upon realising the young man was from a different community. News of the conversion spread quickly, causing an uproar among Hindu organisations, which led to protests. Following the protests and a complaint from the young man’s father, the police intervened, taking the young man into custody and filing a case against five individuals, including the girlfriend, her parents, and the Qari. The five individuals were arrested, and the young man was released after questioning. The young man, who had previously spent time in Mumbai, had reportedly discussed his relationship and the conversion with his friends there. They advised him to convert to marry his girlfriend. The case remains under investigation, and further action will be taken based on the findings.
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, with the subcategory - Forced to Convert Before Marriage, and the tertiary category - Forced to Follow Non-Hindu Practices. In such cases, a non-Hindu woman is in a relationship with a Hindu man when the force/pressure against the Hindu man to convert his religion begins to manifest. The relationship in such cases is mostly consensual and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu man in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu woman starts to force/pressure the victim to convert his religion and give up his Hindu identity. In such cases, the methods used to force/pressure the victim to convert his religion often revolve around forcing/pressurizing the man to involuntarily consume beef, forced circumcision, forcing/pressurizing to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where the Hindu man consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. This case is a religiously motivated hate crime as it involves coercion and pressure on a Hindu man to abandon his faith as a prerequisite for marriage. The ultimatum given by the girl’s family—that he must convert to Islam to marry their daughter—demonstrates blatant religious discrimination and an intent to erase his Hindu identity. This is a clear violation of his religious freedom and personal choice. The insistence on conversion before marriage highlights a pattern often seen in forced religious conversions, where individuals from non-Muslim backgrounds are pressured or manipulated into changing their faith. In several cases where a Hindu man is in a relationship with a Muslim woman, the man ends up being coerced into adopting Islam and assaulted or killed by the family of the Muslim woman, because the family of the Muslim partner disapprove of their relationship. This disapproval mostly stems from the difference in the religious identity of the couple. According to Islamic law, a marriage is not deemed lawful until the non-Muslim spouse agrees to convert to Islam. The Muslim woman's family views this as the primary source of disapproval, and it is frequently observed that this disapproval results in the Muslim partner's family either assaulting or killing the non-Muslim partner. In this instance, there is a clear element of coercion. There was psychological and social pressure exerted on the young man to abandon his faith and adopt another religion solely for marriage. This underscores the discriminatory and predatory nature of this act. Consequently, this case has been added to the tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 0
- 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
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
