“You are a Hindu, I married you out of greed": Mohd Arman of Bareilly does Nikah with disabled Hindu girl for her money; tortures her with his kin and kicks her out
Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India 
29 March, 2024
Case Summary
In Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district, Mohammad Arman converted a disabled Hindu woman to Islam, married her, and then demanded dowry before abandoning her. The victim's money and jewellery were also taken. She was molested by her father-in-law, Irfan, and beaten by her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. On June 17, the police registered an FIR against five accused and began an investigation. The incident took place in the Bhojipura police station area. The woman, who has one leg disabled, received Rs 7 lakh as compensation for an accident. Mohammad Arman, a resident of Jadopur, Bareilly, promised to marry her to take her compensation money. He convinced her to convert to Islam and change her name to Zoya. They married on March 30, and Arman quickly swindled Rs 3 lakh from her. He then pressured her to give him the remaining Rs 4 lakh. When she refused, Arman threatened divorce. She was harassed by her in-laws, who discussed getting Arman married to someone else for Rs 5 lakh. The victim eventually gave an additional Rs 75,000 to her father-in-law Irfan. Despite this, the abuse continued. Arman told her, “You are a Hindu. I married you out of greed,” and the family attempted to seize her Nikah-related documents. On June 10, Irfan held her hand with malicious intent. When she resisted, she was beaten by her in-laws and husband. The next day, they took her documents, Rs 23,000 cash, and jewellery, and threw her out of the house after beating her. The victim then filed a police complaint.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
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. This particular case is being added to the 'brainwashing' category because while the Hindu woman converted to Islam and married the Muslim perpetrator out of free will, there are clear indications that the woman was not only targeted because of her religious identity but also, was misled and brainwashed into converting to Islam. After the woman was converted to Islam, the Muslim perpetrator and his family tortured her for dowry. Thereafter, the man left her saying that she is a Hindu and he would not have married her otherwise. Since the perpetrator himself admitted that even after conversion to Islam, which was done by manipulation to begin with, the woman's religious identity is what made him leave her, this case is being categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime under brainwashing and grooming.
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
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
