Field Investigation: Couple Shiv-Kavita Forced to Become Abdulla-Fatima by Village Pradhan

Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, 2024: Shiv Prasad Lodhi and his wife Kavita left their native Varanasi for work, settling as migrants in an all-Muslim village in Fatehpur district. When they sought help from the village pradhan, Mohammed Amil Sheikh, to obtain basic identity documents, it triggered a process they did not fully understand at the time: erasure of their Hindu identity and conversion to Islam.

When this correspondent met Kavita at her house in Fatehpur, she recalled that Sheikh agreed to get their government identity documents made, but with a condition: he suggested they adopt Islamic names in the papers.

Sheikh insisted it was necessary. How else, he asked, could the couple justify their residence in an all-Muslim village? 

By then, the couple had lived in Fatehpur’s Poore Adhari village for more than two years. Subtle pressure to convert was always there, she recalled, but paperwork made it unavoidable. Shiv Prasad, who studied only up to Class 2 and cannot read or write, saw no alternative but to accept Sheikh’s offer.

“I had no documents in my original name. Neither did Kavita. I did as I was told,” he said, speaking to this correspondent over the phone as he was away from the city.

Names changed in documents

Soon after, the couple received their ration card and voter IDs. Shiv Prasad’s name now appeared as ‘Abdulla, son of Jabbar‘. He says ‘Jabbar’ was an imaginary name supplied by Sheikh; his real father’s name is Devnath.

Kavita became ‘Fatma, wife of Abdulla‘ in some documents and, in one instance, ‘daughter of Amil‘ In her ID card photograph, she is pictured wearing a burqa.

“The women gave me the burqa to wear for the pictures,” she said.

Their migration from Varanasi to Fatehpur

The couple’s life took this turn after a series of tragedies. They had married in an alliance fixed by their families. Within two years of marriage, they had to sell their home in Varanasi under financial distress. They are natives of Dulahipur village in Chandauli block of Varanasi district.

Shiv Prasad’s only sibling, his brother, died of illness. His parents had passed away when he was a child, leaving him an orphan after his brother’s death. Kavita has no siblings. After marriage, she gave birth to a daughter, but the infant died just six days after birth.

A neighbour from Varanasi, who worked in Fatehpur, suggested the couple relocate to his area. That led them to Poore Adhari in Hathgaon block of Fatehpur, where they rented a home and began working. 

For a brief time, they thought their luck had changed. Kavita became pregnant again. But in the eighth month of pregnancy, she suffered a miscarriage.

Subtle coercion to conversion

In the aftermath of the miscarriage, women from the village began visiting her to offer condolences. They suggested that worshipping Hindu deities was bringing her no luck, and advised her to pray at the local dargah instead.

Desperate for solace, Kavita complied.

She also began working as a househelp at the home of Amil Sheikh, where further changes crept into her daily life. Coerced by the women in Sheikh’s family, Kavita stopped wearing sari, adopted the salwar suit, and abandoned the bindi and sindoor that had marked her marital status as a Hindu woman.

“They told me to live like the other women in the village,” she said.

Land deal triggered paper conversion

Within two years of living in Poore Adhari, the couple saved enough to purchase a small plot of land. The property was owned by Amil Sheikh, and they agreed on a price of Rs 40,000.

When Shiv Prasad approached Sheikh for help with the registration papers, Sheikh told him that he had to get his identity documents made for the process.

After Shiv Prasad agreed to all his conditions for the paperwork, a ceremony was held at the local mosque, where the couple recited the Kalma, the Islamic oath of allegiance.

Shiv Prasad says Sheikh assured him it was just a formality.

A month later, the documents arrived – under the new names.

Aftermath of ‘paper conversion’

But life after this paper conversion did not unfold the way the couple expected.

Neighbours began pressuring the couple to abandon all Hindu customs now that they had read the Kalma. Shiv Prasad was frequently reprimanded for not attending namaz at the mosque. Kavita was discouraged from keeping Navratri fasts and told to observe roze (Ramzan fasting) instead.

The couple began performing any Hindu rituals privately and indoors.

Shiv Prasad also faced pressure to undergo khatna (circumcision). When he approached Sheikh again to finalize the land registry, Sheikh insisted that khatna must happen first.

After several attempts to get the property registered, Shiv Prasad gave up. To this day, the land remains in Sheikh’s name, he says, causing him ongoing anxiety.

Attempts to persuade Sheikh’s sons to transfer the property have led to ugly spats, he says.

Social isolation followed

Refusing to undergo circumcision also led to social ostracism, affecting Shiv Prasad’s ability to find work in the village. He began traveling to Mumbai for seasonal labour, leaving Kavita alone for months at a time.

In his absence, Kavita faced pressure from neighbours to adopt a child from the village.

“They told me a woman should not be without a child,” she said. But Kavita suspected the suggestion was a ploy to eventually claim their house.

“I told them it was God’s will that I remain childless,” Kavita told Rashtra Jyoti.

Over the years, Kavita has become increasingly isolated. She has no close friends and keeps to herself indoors.

When this correspondent visited their home, Kavita did not answer the door for over an hour despite repeated knocks. A neighbour, Anjum Begum, said that “Fatma does not speak to anyone in the village.”

Eventually, Kavita opened the door. She admitted she had heard the knocking but thought it was someone from the village.

“I am now happy to see someone has come to meet me from New Delhi,” she said to this correspondent.

‘Ghar wapsi’

In February 2024, the couple, having decided they had endured enough, reached out to Ram Bal, a local Hindu organization based in a village two kilometers away from Poore Adhari. The group, led by Agendra Sahu, organized a public havan (Vedic ritual) right outside the couple’s house. The event was attended by dozens of saffron-clad activists and was held under police security to ensure the couple’s safety.

Newspapers reported that their ‘ghar wapsi’ happened after 19 years.

“We would have liked Amil Sheikh to see the ritual, but he passed away a few years ago,” she says. “He tricked us into conversion.”

She estimates he was 70 years of age.

Legal struggle continues

Despite the ritual, the couple’s official documents still bear the names Abdulla and Fatma.

Ram Bal activists advised them to file a case in district court to rectify the records. But Shiv Prasad says the process has been confusing and costly.

“Lawyers have been ambiguous about what needs to be done,” he said. “Some told us it’s not possible since we have no documents under our original names. Others are demanding exorbitant fees that we cannot afford.”

For now, they have paused their efforts.

An initial version of this report by this author was first published here.