Qadir and two others arrested for pressuring Hindu girl to convert to Islam with threats to kill her family members
Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India 
29 June, 2024
Case Summary
In Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, a Hindu girl was coerced by her Muslim friend into befriending a boy, who then harassed her and pressured her to convert to Islam. The police registered a case and sent three individuals to jail. Ravanwada police station in-charge CS Sareem explained that a Hindu girl was introduced to a boy named Qadir by her Muslim friend. The girl and Qadir started communicating, and Qadir initially asked her for money, which she provided. However, he continued to demand money and began pressuring her to convert, threatening to kill her brother and father if she refused. The distressed girl filed a complaint, leading to the arrest of Qadir from Nagpur. The police also arrested the friend from Parasia and another associate. This is the first case in the district registered under the Madhya Pradesh Religious Freedom Act. The accused are charged under sections for extortion, criminal conspiracy, threats to kill, and the Religious Freedom Act.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
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 have 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 and forceful circumcision. 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 in an attempt to make the Hindu victim abandon his/her professed religion and adopt the religion of the perpetrator. In this sub-category, we would include cases where the non-Hindu perpetrator harassed, threatened or coerced the victim to convert, however, the Hindu victim did not convert to another faith. Cases where the victim was converted owing to the harassment and threats 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. Here, a Hindu girl was coerced by her Muslim friend into befriending a boy, who then harassed her and pressured her to convert to Islam. She was also threatened with the life of her brother and father if she refused to accede to the conversion demands. This was an arm-twisting tactic that the perpetrator adopted to compel the victim to renounce her professed faith and accept Islam. This constitutes a religiously motivated hate crime as such actions are driven by intolerance towards the victim's religious identity and aim to coerce them into abandoning their faith, often accompanied by threats, violence, or other forms of intimidation.
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 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
