Sarfaraz pretends to be Raj, establishes sexual relationship with Hindu minor, threatens to kill her and her family when she refuses to convert
Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India 
12 June, 2024
Case Summary
In Agra, a case emerged where a Muslim man named Sarfaraz deceived a Hindu minor by pretending to be Raj. The girl, from the Chhatta Police Station area, reported that her father had passed away five years ago and her mother worked as a cleaner. She met Sarfaraz, posing as Raj, at her tuition classes about a year ago. They became friends and later romantically involved. Sarfaraz professed his love and proposed marriage, but evaded the topic when pressed for details. During this time, he established sexual relationship with the minor several times. Eventually, Sarfaraz revealed that the girl would have to convert to Islam and do Nikah, which was when she discovered his true identity. She then tried to distance herself from him, but Sarfaraz continued to pressure her and her family. Frustrated, the family told him they would consider marriage when she turned eighteen, post which Sarfaraz started threatening to kill them. The girl’s family sought help from Hindu organisations and with their assistance, filed a case at the Chhatta police station. A case was registered against the accused under various sections and the search for him is underway.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
In this case, there are four distinct components which prove that the offence was committed coupled with a religious bias hence this case has been classified as a religious hate crime. The first component is that the Muslim perpetrator actively hid his religion and pretended to be a Hindu to trap the Hindu minor in his love, which is why the first sub-category selected under 'hate crime against woman in relationship' here is 'man pretends to be a Hindu'. 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. Further, as per case specifics, the second sub-category relevant here is 'torture of family to force woman to convert.' When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is forced to convert her religion. Several methods are used for such forced conversion. The non-Hindu man is often documented to issue threats and even employ violence. One of the ways used by such perpetrators is threatening and/or torturing the family members of the Hindu woman to pressure her to convert. The perpetrators in such cases issue threats to harm or torture the family of the woman. In some cases, there is also violence directed towards the family to force the Hindu woman to convert. Such crimes aim to blackmail the victim into changing her religion by inducing fear of harm to her family. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The third sub-category chosen for this case 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 fourth sub-category is grooming. It is evident from the case that the perpetrator was grooming the minor to eventually convert to Islam, after establishing a relationship with her under false pretences. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. In this case, the Muslim perpetrator hid his religious identity to trap the Hindu minor. This is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. Further, he exploited her physically under the pretext of marriage and then started forcing her to convert to Islam and perform Nikah with him. It is at this point that the minor gets to know his true religious identity. After this, the accused began threatening her and her family with death. Such actions are not random but are directed specifically at individuals because of their religious affiliation. This targeted violence is a direct expression of hate and intolerance towards the victim's religion, hence this case has been classified as a religious 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 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
