Hindu woman lured into relationship on pretext of marriage, pressured to convert by Muslim man

Case ID : 152deca | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 20 January, 2025
Case ID : 152deca
location Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
date 20 January, 2025
Hindu woman lured into relationship on pretext of marriage, pressured to convert by Muslim man
Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes
Assault or threat upon refusal to convert
Forced conversion before marriage

Case Summary

A Hindu woman was forced to convert her religion after being involved in a relationship on the pretext of marriage. The woman, originally from Khargone, had moved to Indore for her studies. Owais Khan, a resident of the Ranipura area, befriended her through Instagram. Their friendship developed into a relationship, during which Owais established physical relations with her by promising marriage. However, when the woman brought up the topic of marriage, Owais began delaying it. Later, he insisted that she convert her religion if she wanted to marry him. The woman refused, expressing her wish to marry without changing her faith. Following her refusal, Owais allegedly threatened her, leaving her distressed. Seeking help, the woman approached members of the Hindu Jagran Manch, who supported her in filing a complaint. On January 21, the organization’s member, Kannu Sharma, accompanied her to the Central Kotwali police station, where she filed a case of rape and religious conversion pressure against Owais. The police registered the case and launched an investigation. Owais fled, and his brother was detained for questioning.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the first sub-category selected is- Forced conversion before marriage. 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 here is- Attack or threat upon refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force 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 pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. 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 refused to accede to his conversion demands, he threatened her. The intent to change her religious identity through deceit and pressure underscores the underlying religious hatred and bigotry the perpetrator harboured for the victim's religion. Consequently, this case has been classified as a hate crime where deceit 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 0
  • Adult 0
  • Senior Citizen 0
  • Unknown 1
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


One Person

Perpetrators Gender


male

Case Details SVG
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