Salim, Aamir among 5 assault and molest minor Dalit girl, threaten her at gunpoint to convert to Islam
Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India 
16 August, 2024
Case Summary
In Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh, a 16-year-old Dalit girl was molested and threatened by five men, Salim, Aamir, Arman, Faizan and Akbar, on August 17, 2024. The accused surrounded her, assaulted her, and threatened her with a gun, demanding that she convert to Islam. When she resisted, Aamir brandished the weapon and threatened her life. Reportedly, Aamir kept a gun on the victim's chest and said, "I will convert you to Islam and make you a Muslim. If you do anything, I will make Aonla Bangladesh." The assailants fled when bystanders gathered. The police quickly arrested Aamir and Salim after an encounter, during which both men fired at officers and were subsequently injured. The police charged them under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, the POCSO Act, and the SC/ST Act. A separate FIR was registered for the attack on the police. Raids are ongoing to apprehend the remaining suspects, Arman, Faizan and Akbar.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The prime category under which this case has been placed is- Predatory Proselytisation. Under this category, the sub-category chosen is- Attempting to convert by harassment/threats- 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. The details of this case reveal that the Muslim perpetrator, harassed the Hindu victim to alienate her from her professed faith. He molested her and threatened her to convert at gunpoint. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victims and the accused employed violence and intimidation to disenfranchise the victim from it, the case has been included in the hate tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 1
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
