Hindu youth hacked to death by his Muslim wife’s kin over interfaith marriage

Case ID : 0b6766a | Location : Dwarka, Gujarat, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 2 August, 2024

Case ID : 0b6766a

Dwarka, Gujarat, India

2 August, 2024

Hindu youth hacked to death by his Muslim wife’s kin over interfaith marriage

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Killed by non-Hindu partner's family

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

On August 3, 2024, in Shedhakhai village, Gujarat, a 24-year-old Hindu man, Yagnik Dudhrejiya, was brutally murdered by his Muslim wife’s family members due to their interfaith marriage. The attackers, identified as Adam Musa Detha, Hothi alias Dado Kasam Detha, Juma Musa Detha, Osman Musa Detha, Sajid Isha Detha, Salim Hussain Detha, and a minor, assaulted Dudhrejiya with axes, iron rods, and sticks. Despite being rushed to a hospital in Jamnagar, he succumbed to his injuries. Dudhrejiya had married a Muslim woman, Rajma, from the same village a year and a half ago, despite opposition from her family. The couple had recently returned to Shedhakhai after living elsewhere and had just welcomed a baby girl. On the evening of the attack, Dudhrejiya and his friend were intercepted by his wife’s relatives, who shouted, “You married our girl without approval; we won’t let you go alive,” before launching a vicious attack. Following the incident, a case was registered, and six men, including the victim’s brother-in-law and the woman’s uncles, were arrested. A juvenile was also detained.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been placed under the prime category- Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women of the hate tracker. Under this category, the sub-category selected is- Killed by non-Hindu partner's family- When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced/pressured to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the family of the non-Hindu partner murders the victim. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman and her family start forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman’s family. The pressure could involve threats. The trigger to murdering the Hindu man in these cases is his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is murdered by the family of the non-Hindu woman simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the murder is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The first component which makes it worthy of being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime is that the family of his Muslim partner killed a Hindu man for being in a relationship with her. In this case, the relationship was consensual and the man and woman were with each other knowing each other’s identity fully well. However, in the Islamic faith, a marriage is deemed illegitimate if the non-Muslim partner does not convert to Islam. For those who practice the faith, when their daughter marries a Hindu man without the man converting to Islam, the difference in religions followed becomes the main point of disapproval for the family of the Muslim woman. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islam, the perpetrator family believes that such interfaith relationships diminish the family’s ‘honour’. In this case, also, the inherent animosity for the Hindu religion prompted the family of the Muslim girl to go to the extent of killing the Hindu man, making this case worthy of being documented in the hate tracker.