Muslim youths arrested for stalking and harassing Hindu girl student in Aligarh, tried to forcibly convert her to Islam, threatened to throw acid
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 
19 May, 2024
Case Summary
On May 20, the Aligarh police arrested three people, namely, Mohammad Junaid, Sahil and one other, in connection to the harassment and forced conversion of a female Hindu student. The victim had gone to Chharra town to write a B.ED examination. While she was returning home, the Muslim miscreants began following her. The accused had been harassing the girl for several days. The victim informed her uncle, post which her family members began accompanying her to the exam centre. As a result, the accused temporarily stopped the harassment. However, on May 20, they again followed the female student, created a ruckus outside her house and even tried to pull her dupatta. They attempted to forcibly convert her to Islam and get married. They further threatened to throw acid on her face. The locals caught hold of the accused and their friend, Vivek Prasad, and thrashed them in public. Thereafter, they were handed over to the police.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The sub-category under which we have put this case is 'attempting to convert by harassment/threat' under the prime category of Predatory Proselytisation since the victim was harassed and threatened to convert to Islam. The details of the case reveal that the accused molested the victim and also threatened to throw acid on her face. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats in this case find their root on discriminatory grounds which have the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion and forceful circumcision. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment in an attempt to make the Hindu victim abandon his/her professed religion and adopt the religion of the perpetrator. In this sub-category, we would include cases where the non-Hindu perpetrator harassed, threatened or coerced the victim to convert, however, the Hindu victim did not convert to another faith. Cases where the victim was converted owing to the harassment and threats would be documented in another sub-category. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The underlying motivation of predatory proselytisation itself is animosity towards the professed faith of the victim. In this case, there was threat and harassment involved in the pressure exerted to forcefully convert the Hindu woman. Further, the central aim of the perpetrator was to disenfranchise the Hindu woman from her professed faith. Since the central motivation is religion, this case has been added as a hate crime.
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
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
