Taj Mohammed arrested for raping Hindu woman on pretext of marriage, then forcibly converting her to Islam, threatened her using casteist slurs
Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, India 
18 June, 2024
Case Summary
Police in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh arrested a Muslim man for establishing sexual relationship with a 25-year-old Dalit woman on the pretext of marriage and then forcing her to convert to Islam. The accused was identified as Taj Mohammed, who established sexual relationship with the woman and then started to threaten her with violent consequences if she told anyone about the incident. He also hurled casteist slurs at her. Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Manoj Kumar Rawat said, “The woman in her complaint has accused one Taj Mohammed of raping her on the pretext of marriage and converting her to Islam forcibly.” The accused was arrested after the victim woman filed a complaint against him with the police.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the hate tracker under two prime categories. The first is- Hate crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes. Under this, the sub-category selected here is- Forced conversion before marriage- 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 prime category relevant here 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. This incident can be categorized as a religiously motivated hate crime. The Muslim man, Taj Mohammed, not only sexually assaulted the Dalit woman under the false promise of marriage but also attempted to forcibly convert her to Islam. This reveals an abuse of power based on religious and gender dominance, as the woman was targeted for conversion after being violated. Additionally, the accused also threatened the victim and hurled casteist slurs at her. This further highlights the religious motive and animosity towards the Hindu woman. It can be argued that a caste-specific slur is aimed at her micro identity of belonging to the Dalit section of the Hindu community and not her Hindu identity itself. However, as far as Abrahamic religions are concerned, the micro identities of caste, region, and language are secondary. It is the religious identity that drives the animosity of the perpetrator against the Hindu victim. In this case, while Taj Mohammad hurled caste abuses at the victim, the animosity was driven by his animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. The fact that caste slurs were hurled at the victim by the perpetrator makes it a religiously motivated hate crime against the victim.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 1
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
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 
