Amjad grooms Hindu girl of Bhimavaram, forces her to wear hijab, threatens her with violence
Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, India 
27 October, 2023
Case Summary
Tejaswini, a student from Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, went missing on October 28, 2023, after being groomed by her senior, Amjad, an Islamist from Vijayawada. Despite her parents, Sivakumari and Prabhakar Rao, filing a complaint, no action was initially taken. Nine months later, on June 22, 2024, Tejaswini's mother sought help from Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. Prompt police action led to the discovery that Amjad had taken Tejaswini to various cities, including Hyderabad, Kerala, Mumbai, Delhi, and finally Jammu, where they lived under financial strain. Tejaswini managed to send an Instagram message to her elder sister, which helped the police track her location. Both Tejaswini and Amjad were detained by Jammu police and are being brought back to Vijayawada. Tejaswini's mother stated that Amjad planned to sell her daughter to mafia gangs in Jammu and Kashmir and that he had been evading police by frequently changing SIM cards and phones. She said, "Amzad trapped my daughter through social media and conspired to hand her over to anti-social elements." Tejaswini reported that Amjad had mistreated her, did not give her food, confiscated her phone to prevent her from contacting family, forced her to wear a hijab, and threatened her with violence. "Amzad would show me the armed forces patrolling through the window of the house in Jammu. He would tell me that the police would shoot me if I stepped out of the house. Unable to bear the torture, I thought of ending my life twice," said the victim. She expressed gratitude to the Deputy Chief Minister, the police, and other authorities for rescuing her and urged that Amjad be punished for his actions.
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. The prime category under which this case has been placed in the hate tracker is- Hate Crimes against women in relationship and sexual crimes. Under this prime category, two sub-categories have been chosen as per case details. The first sub-category selected here is- Brainwashed and/or groomed- 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. In this instance, there is no specific element of the Muslim accused hiding his identity. In such cases, the woman, in all probability, is made to believe that her faith would not stand in the way of their relationship. Here too, taking the accused’s word for it, the Hindu minor entered into a romantic relationship with the Muslim man. Taking advantage of this trust the Muslim perpetrator groomed the minor victim and eloped with her. Gradually, the true intentions of the perpetrator became clear to the victim, when he started forcing her to wear a hijab, a subtle yet powerful form of coercion intended to pressure an individual into adopting Islamic customs and, by extension, Islamic beliefs. This case has been classified as a hate crime where indoctrination and manipulation were used since the Muslim male took advantage of the Hindu woman with the sole aim of alienating her from her professed faith.
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 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
