Sohail poses as Hindu to lure woman into relationship. He and his family force her to eat meat and convert to Islam, assault her when she refuses

Case ID : 04aee53 | Location : Budaun, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 2 September, 2024

Case ID : 04aee53

Budaun, Uttar Pradesh, India

2 September, 2024

Sohail poses as Hindu to lure woman into relationship. He and his family force her to eat meat and convert to Islam, assault her when she refuses

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Forced conversion before marriage

Case Summary

In Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman accused Sohail, a Muslim man, and his family of coercing her to convert to Islam and pressuring her into Nikah. The woman, who filed a complaint on September 3, 2024, stated that Sohail initially introduced himself as a Hindu while she was working at a call centre in Chandigarh in 2023. Trusting him, the two started living together, during which Sohail sexually exploited her multiple times, leading to the birth of their daughter. After the birth of the child, the victim travelled with Sohail to his hometown in Badaun, where she discovered his true identity. Sohail's family, including his father Niyamu, mother Rukhsana, and sisters Rubina and Zeba, subjected her to physical and mental torture over a period of three months. They forced her to eat meat, pressured her to renounce Hinduism, and demanded that she embrace Islam. When she refused to comply, the family beat her, separated her from her daughter, and forcibly evicted her from the house. In her complaint, the victim stated that her daughter had been kept away from her, and she had been assaulted repeatedly over minor issues. She accused Sohail and his family of holding her hostage and demanded strict legal action against them.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the hate tracker as a religiously motivated hate crime under the prime category- Hate crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes. Within this, three sub-categories have been selected, based on the case details. The first is- Man pretends to be Hindu, under which the tertiary category named, 'name changed' has been selected. 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 second sub-category relevant here is- Forced conversion before marriage, and within this, the tertiary category that has been selected is 'forced to eat beef'. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. The relationship in such cases is mostly consensual and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. In such cases, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her 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 a Hindu woman 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. The third sub-category under which this case has been placed 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. What gives this case a distinct religious angle is that the Muslim perpetrator actively hid his religion and pretended to be a Hindu to ensnare the Hindu woman. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. Further, the religious angle of the crime became more apparent when the Muslim man continued to take advantage of her physically. Later, when his identity was revealed, he and his family members assaulted her and forced her to consume beef. Forcing a Hindu to consume beef is not only a profound disrespect to their religious beliefs but also constitutes a religiously motivated hate crime. In Hinduism, cows are revered as sacred animals, symbolising life and sustenance, and the act of consuming beef is considered highly sacrilegious by many Hindus. Therefore, compelling a Hindu to eat beef goes beyond mere dietary imposition; it is an intentional violation of their religious principles and an assault on their cultural and spiritual identity. In the broader context of hate crimes, forcing someone to engage in behaviour that is expressly forbidden or offensive in their religion is a clear manifestation of religious intolerance. It demonstrates a blatant disregard for the victim's rights to practice their faith freely. Here, the actions of the perpetrator clearly point towards the deep disdain he harboured for Hindus and their religious beliefs. It is evident that the perpetrator targeted the victim because of her religious identity and that his motivation was driven by religious hate. This is why this case has been added to the hate tracker.