Mustafa poses as Hindu to lure married Hindu woman, tortures her after marrying her in a temple

Case ID : 0b6772a | Location : Basti, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 6 August, 2024

Case ID : 0b6772a

Basti, Uttar Pradesh, India

6 August, 2024

Mustafa poses as Hindu to lure married Hindu woman, tortures her after marrying her in a temple

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Marries as per Hindu rituals

Forced conversion after marriage

Forced to read Kalma

Case Summary

In Basti district, a Hindu woman, Rinki Yadav, fell in love with a quack doctor, Anwarul Mustafa, who posed as a Hindu. After divorcing her husband, she married Mustafa in a temple and moved in with him, unaware that he was already married to a Muslim woman. Over time, Mustafa abused her physically and emotionally. He kept Rinki in a rented house, where she conceived and gave birth to a girl, Arpita. When she asked to be taken home, Mustafa refused, and his abuse intensified. In one violent incident, her four-month pregnancy was terminated due to severe beating. Eventually, Rinki reported Mustafa’s abuse to the police. The police arrested Mustafa after registering a case against him. The investigation kept ongoing, with medical examinations and the victim's statement being recorded.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the hate tracker under the prime category- Hate Crimes against women in relationship and sexual crimes. Further, as per case details, two sub-categories have been selected under the abovementioned prime category. The first sub-category is- Man pretends to be Hindu and under this 'name changed' and 'Marries as per Hindu rituals' are the two tertiary categories that have 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 after marriage, under which the tertiary category chosen is 'Forced to read Kalma'. In such cases, a non-Hindu man marries a Hindu woman and the force/pressure to convert to Islam begins after marriage. In such cases, the marriage is consensual in most cases and often, there is no element of the man hiding his religious identity. The marriage could be under the Special Marriages Act where neither parties are required to convert their religion for the marriage to be considered legitimate. While the victim in such cases enters matrimony assuming that religious identity is not a barrier, the non-Hindu man starts to pressure the woman to convert to Islam after marriage. In such cases, there is application of force by the perpetrator, including, denial of the woman’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the woman is forced/pressured to convert include force-feeding beef, forced to read the Kalma, forced to wear a hijab, forced for Halala, etc. There are several instances where after marriage, the woman voluntarily converts to Islam. Such cases are often argued to be a result of religious brainwashing, however, for the purpose of documenting religiously motivated hate crimes, in the absence of the victim complaining of forced conversion, such cases do not form a part of the database. In this case, Mustafa, a Muslim man, disguises himself as a Hindu to deceive and lure a married Hindu woman, subsequently marrying her in a temple. This act is not merely a case of deception; it is a calculated and manipulative effort rooted in religious bias. By pretending to share the same faith as the woman, Mustafa deliberately undermines her ability to make an informed decision about her relationship, based on a false sense of shared religious identity. Further, the choice to marry her in a temple, a sacred space for Hindus, highlights the malicious intent behind the act. This is a significant violation of the woman’s religious beliefs, as it exploits her faith and religious practices to entrap her in a marriage founded on lies. The use of a temple marriage serves to legitimize the union in the eyes of the woman and her community, making the deception all the more egregious. Once married, Mustafa's true identity and intentions are revealed as he begins to torture the woman. The abuse in this context is not just physical or emotional; it is a manifestation of religious bigotry. The torture can be seen as a punishment for the woman’s religious identity and her trust in her faith. It reflects a deeper contempt for her Hindu beliefs and a desire to assert dominance and control, often driven by religious superiority. This case qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime because it involves the deliberate targeting of a Hindu woman’s religious identity through deception, followed by abuse once the truth is revealed. The initial act of pretending to be Hindu, followed by marriage in a temple, is a calculated assault on the woman's religious faith. The subsequent torture underscores the deep-seated religious hatred, as it serves to punish and subjugate the woman for her faith, making this a clear instance of religiously motivated violence and bigotry.