Sameer forces minor Hindu girl to say "Allahu Akbar" on gunpoint, was forcing her to convert to Islam for last two years
Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
12 June, 2024
Case Summary
In Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim youth named Sameer entered the home of a Hindu family with a gun and coerced their 14-year-old daughter to say "Assalamu Aleikum" and "Allahu Akbar." Sameer, who had been harassing the girl and forcing her to convert to Islam for two years, reportedly comes from a powerful and influential family that did not intervene. Sameer had been threatening and blackmailing the girl and her brother. When the victim's family confronted Sameer’s family, they pressured and intimidated the Hindus. The situation escalated when Sameer entered their house with a gun, leading the family to file a police complaint. Mirzapur SP Abhinandan confirmed that the police registered a case and formed teams to arrest Sameer.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
Distinct elements in this particular case demonstrate that the crime was committed while harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith. As per case details, the prime category under which this case has been placed in the hate tracker is 'Predatory Proselytisation'. To break this down further, the sub-category selected under this category 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. In this case, the Muslim perpetrator was harassing the Hindu girl and forcing her to convert to Islam. He was also threatening and blackmailing the girl and her family members. When the girl's family opposed it, the Muslim perpetrator pulled a gun at the girl and forced her to chant Islamic slogans like "Assalamu Aleikum" and "Allahu Akbar". Forcing someone to declare a belief that is not their own shows the profound disrespect the perpetrator has for the religious identity of the victim. Such acts are forms of coercion and religious intolerance that can be classified as a hate crime, particularly when it is done with the intent to intimidate or harm the individual based on their religious belief, as in this case, which is why it has been documented here in the hate tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
