Muslim man forces Hindu girlfriend to convert to Islam and perform Nikah, assaults her for refusing; insults Ram Mandir and Sanatan Dharma
Udupi, Karnataka, India 
21 January, 2024
Case Summary
In Udupi, Karnataka, Mohammed Danish Khan, a medical student at Manipal Medical University, was arrested for harassing a Hindu classmate and coercing her to convert to Islam. The victim, who was in a romantic relationship with Khan, filed a complaint accusing him of making derogatory remarks about the Ram Mandir and Sanatan Dharma, as well as pressuring her to convert and perform Nikah. The harassment began on January 22, when Khan insulted the Ram Temple during its inauguration. On March 11, he forced his way into the victim's room, assaulted her physically, and demanded that she convert to Islam. When she refused, Khan became violent, pulling her hair, slapping her and threatening her. He also attempted to force her into physical intimacy and later threatened to release obscene videos of her on social media. Khan continued harassing the victim over the phone until August 28, leading her to file a police complaint on August 31. Udupi Women’s Police Station officers arrested Khan on September 4.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been placed under two prime categories of the tracker. The first is- Hate crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes. Under this, three sub-categories have been selected. First is- Forced conversion before marriage and within this, one tertiary category, namely, forced to do Nikah, has been selected. 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 second sub-category under the above-mentioned prime category selected here 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. The third sub-category selected is- blackmailed to convert- When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Further, the second prime category under which this case has been placed is- Hate speech against Hindus, and under this, the sub-category selected is- anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith- Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. In this instance, there is no specific element of the Muslim accused hiding his identity. In such cases, the woman, in all probability, is made to believe that her faith would not stand in the way of their relationship. Here too, taking the accused’s word for it, the Hindu woman entered into a romantic relationship with the Muslim man. However, his true intentions became clear when he started forcing her to convert to Islam and perform Nikah. He also insulted the Ram Temple and Sanatan Dharma. Further, when the victim refused to comply with his conversion demands, he physically assaulted her and blackmailed her with her obscene videos. Here, since the details make it evident that the Muslim accused took advantage of the Hindu woman with the sole aim of alienating her from her professed faith, this case has been classified as a hate crime where indoctrination, manipulation and violence were used.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- 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
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
