Hindu woman deceived into marriage, forced to convert, and assaulted by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Case ID : f664907 | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 31 December, 2017

Case ID : f664907

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

31 December, 2017

Hindu woman deceived into marriage, forced to convert, and assaulted by Muslim man posing as Hindu

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Marries as per Hindu rituals

Forced conversion after marriage

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

In Vijaynagar, Indore, a Hindu woman was deceived into marriage by a Muslim man named Imran. He pretended to be a Hindu man named Dhanuraj Negi. He later forced her to convert to Islam. Imran also assaulted the woman when she refused to convert. According to reports, the woman and Imran became friends in 2018. Imran introduced himself as a Hindu man named Dhanuraj Negi, and the woman fell in love with him. In 2020, they travelled to Omkareshwar and got married at the Durga Mata Temple. They then moved to Dewas to live together. In May 2022, Negi was sent to jail for an undisclosed reason. During his time in custody, he submitted his documents to apply for bail. It was then that the woman discovered his true identity. After his release, a dispute arose between them over this revelation. Imran told her that if she wished to stay with him, she would have to convert to Islam. He continued to pressure her, but she repeatedly postponed the matter. The woman accompanied Imran to Meghdoot Chowpatty, where he again insisted that she convert to Islam. When she refused, a verbal altercation occurred, and Imran physically assaulted her on the spot. The victim then reached out to Mansingh Rajawat and Sandeep Singh from the Hindu Jagran Manch. With their support, she went to the nearest police station and filed a case against Imran.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Crimes against women in relationships or other sexual crimes. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. The tertiary categories selected are - Name Changed and Marries as per Hindu rituals. 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 - Forced conversion after 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. The other subcategory selected is - Assault or threat upon refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu man. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman was deceived by a Muslim man posing as a Hindu. His malicious intent is evident from the outset as the accused deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu woman. 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. Additionally, the marriage conducted according to Hindu rituals in a Hindu temple legitimised the relationship in the eyes of the woman and the wider Hindu community. This constituted a direct violation of her right to informed consent regarding whom she chose to marry, as well as an infringement upon her religious beliefs. Thus, the perpetrator’s deliberate decision to hide his religious identity strongly underscores the religious motive behind this crime. In such instances, identity concealment is not just a deceptive tactic for personal reasons but a calculated strategy rooted in religious profiling and targeting. The accused was aware that the victim, being Hindu, would likely refuse his advances if she knew his real identity, and he circumvented this by lying, which directly points to a religiously driven intent. This deception reflects a larger pattern where Hindu women are specifically singled out using false identities, often with coercion or conversion in mind. Such targeted victimisation based on religion not only demonstrates a fundamental disregard for Hinduism but also exposes a deeper animosity toward Hindus and their beliefs. This is why this case has been included in the tracker, as it exemplifies a clear instance of religiously motivated crime. After the deception was exposed, the woman was coerced to convert to Islam. This clearly demonstrates that the Muslim perpetrator deliberately deceived the Hindu woman to pursue his underlying objective of religious conversion. Such actions constitute a violation of the Hindu woman's right to practise her faith and an attempt to strip her of her Hindu identity. These acts reflect deep-seated religious animosity and disdain towards Hindus and Hinduism. Further, the harassment intensified when the woman refused to convert. She was physically assaulted by the Muslim perpetrator. This violent retaliation further reinforces the religious motive. When the woman resists conversion, the perpetrator may feel his perceived authority or dominance is being challenged, not just personally, but ideologically. This leads to retaliatory acts such as harassment or physical assault, designed to punish and break the will of the victim until she submits. Thus, the violence is not random. It is religiously motivated coercion, aimed at eroding the victim’s identity and forcing conformity through fear. Such acts are inherently rooted in hate, not just toward the individual, but toward the faith she represents. This dynamic is what makes the incident not just a case of personal violence, but a hate crime with clear religious motives. Multiple factors stated above make this incident a textbook example of a religiously motivated crime against a Hindu woman, which is why it is being added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: Media reports state that the victim's ordeal began when she met the accused in 2018, though no exact date is provided. To document this case, we have used an indicative date—January 1, 2018—as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged later, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.