Hindu woman raped, tortured and forced to convert by Muslim man, force fed beef when she resisted

Case ID : 152de77 | Location : Basti, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 30 August, 2024
Case ID : 152de77
location Basti, Uttar Pradesh, India
date 30 August, 2024
Hindu woman raped, tortured and forced to convert by Muslim man, force fed beef when she resisted
Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes
Rape for refusal to convert
Forced conversion before marriage
Forced to eat beef
Predatory Proselytisation
Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In Uttar Pradesh's Basti area, a Muslim youth raped a Hindu girl for 10 years and exploited her under the false pretext of marriage. He forced her to convert to Islam and when she resisted, he forced fed her beef in an attempt to convert her religion. According to the victim's complaint, the accused, Saddam, entered her house a decade ago and sexually assaulted her, subsequently maintaining a physical relationship with her by repeatedly promising marriage. During this period, the victim became pregnant on four occasions, but each time, the accused coerced her into terminating the pregnancy. On 31 August 2024, when the victim visited the accused's house to insist on marriage, Saddam, along with his family members Razia, Munna, and Noor Alam, reportedly assaulted her and forcibly fed her beef in an attempt to convert her religion. A case was registered based on the complaint filed by the Hindu victim.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added as a religiously motivated crime under two prime categories of the Hinduphobia tracker. The first is- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the first sub-category selected is- Forced conversion before marriage and within this the tertiary category selected is- Forced to eat beef. 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. The second sub-category selected under the above-mentioned prime category is- Rape for refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces pressure/threats/violence to convert and change her religious identity 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 pressuring the Hindu woman to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim man could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. As the case may be, in such cases, the non-Hindu man forces himself sexually on the Hindu woman when she refuses his advances and pressures to convert her religion. The rape of the woman is often seen as either a punishment for the woman refusing to convert. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The second category under which this case has been placed is- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Harassment, threat, coercion for conversion. 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 has 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, forceful circumcision etc. 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 to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted 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. 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 woman entered into a romantic relationship with the Muslim man. 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, his true intentions became clear. He forced the woman to give up her professed faith and convert to Islam. When the woman resisted, the accused along with his family members assaulted her and forcibly fed her beef in an attempt to convert her religion. Forcing a Hindu to consume beef is not only a profound disrespect to their religious beliefs but also constitutes a religiously motivated hate crime. In Hinduism, cows are revered as sacred animals, symbolising life and sustenance, and the act of consuming beef is considered highly sacrilegious by many Hindus. Therefore, compelling a Hindu to eat beef goes beyond mere dietary imposition; it is an intentional violation of their religious principles and an assault on their cultural and spiritual identity. In the broader context of hate crimes, forcing someone to engage in behaviour that is expressly forbidden or offensive in their religion is a clear manifestation of religious intolerance. It demonstrates a blatant disregard for the victim's rights to practice their faith freely. Here, the actions of the perpetrator clearly point towards the deep disdain he harboured for Hindus and their religious beliefs. It is evident that the perpetrator targeted the victim because of her religious identity and that his motivation was driven by religious hate. This is why this case has been added to the hate tracker. Disclaimer: The report indicates that the woman was being harassed for the past 10 years; however, the exact dates are unclear. To document this case in the tracker, therefore, we have considered the day of the incident as the date when the victim visited the accused's house, where she was assaulted and forcibly fed beef in an attempt to convert her to Islam.

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 Background
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Case Status


Complaint registered

Case Status Background
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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Muslim Extremists

Perpetrators Range


From 2 To 5

Perpetrators Gender


both

Case Details SVG
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