Hindu girl misled by Muslim man wearing tilak, kalava and saffron kurta, later threatened for religious conversion
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
8 July, 2024
Case Summary
In Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a man named Imran, who had been posing as "Aman," lured a Hindu girl into a relationship under false pretenses. Starting in 2019, Imran created a fake Instagram identity, using luxurious images and adopting Hindu symbols like a tilak, saffron kurta, and kalava to deceive the girl into believing he was Hindu. Over four years, he sexually exploited her on the promise of marriage, taking her to hotels and relatives' homes. The girl became pregnant. When she insisted on marriage, Imran revealed his true identity as a Muslim and pressured her to convert to Islam for a Nikah. When the girl resisted, Imran assaulted her and threatened to kill both her and the unborn child, telling her, "I will not marry you. Run away, you b**ch, else I will kill the baby inside your womb." Distressed, the girl confided in her family and filed a police complaint against him. The police arrested Imran and uncovered that he was in contact with more than 35 girls on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Imran had been using his fake identity to deceive and exploit multiple girls in a similar fashion. The police urged these girls to come forward and file complaints to strengthen the case against him. Imran was charged with rape, assault, threats of murder, and violations under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act-2021. Following his arrest, he was produced in court and subsequently sent to jail.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been documented as a religious hate crime because the details clearly show that the offender had a bias against the Hindu faith and that the offence was performed in conjunction with that bias. As per case details, it has been added to the hate tracker under the prime category- Hate Crimes against women in relationship and sexual crimes. Under this category, two sub-categories have been chosen. The first sub-category selected here is- Man pretends to be Hindu- under which a tertiary category- Wears symbols of Hinduism, has been selected. 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. The second sub-category selected here is- Forced conversion before marriage, within which the tertiary category selected is - Forced to do Nikah. 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. Further, the third sub-category under which this case has been placed 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 religious motive of the crime is evident from the fact that the Muslim perpetrator hid his true identity to trap the Hindu victim. He donned Hindu religious symbols like Kalava and Tilak, and frequently wore saffron clothing to deceive her. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. Further, the religious angle of the crime became more apparent when the Muslim man continued to take advantage of her physically under the guise of marriage, but when the girl pressed him to honour his word, he forced the woman to give up her professed faith and convert to Islam. He also inflicted torture on her. He targeted the victim specifically owing to her religious identity and after that, tried to forcefully change her religious identity to Islam. Further, when his real identity was revealed to the victim, he not only forced her to adopt Islam but also threatened to kill her and her unborn child. This was an arm-twisting tactic to coerce the victim into complying with his conversion demands. This case has been documented in the hate tracker as every detail points towards the fact that the perpetrator wanted to target the victim because of her religious identity specifically and that his motivation was driven by religious hate.
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
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
