Shakeel Ahmed abducts 18-year-old Hindu girl from Banda, takes her to Mumbai, forcefully marries and rapes her, converts her to become Iqra
Banda, Uttar Pradesh, India 
19 May, 2024
Case Summary
In Banda, Uttar Pradesh, an 18-year-old Hindu girl was abducted on May 20 by Shakeel Ahmed belonging to Mahua village, along with his two companions. They got her unconscious by making her inhale an intoxicating substance and took her to Mumbai on a train. Shakeel threatened to kill her when she tried to plead for mercy. She was forcefully converted to Islam in a mosque as well as given a new name ‘Iqra’ after which he pressured her into marrying him. He repeatedly sexually violated Iqra. The offender had posted their Nikahnama (Islamic contract of marriage) along with threats on social media due to which her family members and the police learned about the shocking development. On May 28, the two were found by the authorities, who opened a case based on the allegation of the female’s family. On May 29, the accused was produced in the court from where he was sent to judicial custody.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The sub-category under Predatory Proselytisation relevant here is 'Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion'. 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 has 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, forceful circumcision etc. 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 to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted 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 details of this case reveal that the Muslim perpetrator, to alienate the Hindu victim from his professed faith inflicted torture on her. She was abducted, raped and threatened with death, all because the perpetrator wanted her to renounce her faith and accept Islam. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victims and the accused employed violence and intimidation to disenfranchise the victim from it, the case has been included in the hate tracker.
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
Perpetrator held guilty by court
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
