Tribal girl student threatened and abused with casteist slurs, forced to convert and marry Muslim man

Case Summary
A tribal student from Chirki, under the Pirtand police station in Giridih, Jharkhand, was pressured to convert and marry Taj Hussain. The student, Radhika Kisku, stated that the accused threatened her life, used casteist slurs, and attempted to seize her movable and immovable property. She also complained of mental harassment and being pressured into marriage. Radhika and her sister-in-law sought justice by filing complaints, including applications to local leaders Pramukh Savita Tudu and Mukhiya Somra Hembram. In response, the tribal community held a meeting at Sidhu Kanhu Vidyalaya to discuss the matter. When Taj and his family did not attend, the community demanded strict action. Later, a large group of villagers approached the Pirtand police station, urging legal action and protection for the victim's family. The Pirtand police registered an FIR based on the victim’s complaint. Police station in-charge Dipesh Kumar confirmed that Radhika was taken to court to record her statement, but it was delayed and rescheduled for the following day. Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha suspended Taj Hussain, the block secretary of its youth wing, from primary membership.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The case has been added as a religiously motivated hate 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. Further, the tertiary category selected within this is- Forced to do Nikah. 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 category is- Assault 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. The second prime category under which this case has been placed is- Hate speech against Hindus and within this the sub-category selected is- Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. 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, the victim may have been made to believe the same. However, soon, the accused started pressuring her to give up her professed faith and convert to Islam. He also forced her to perform Nikah with him. The accused threatened her and used casteist slurs. The accused's act of pressuring the victim to renounce her faith and convert to Islam clearly establishes the religious motivation behind the crime. Furthermore, the religious intent becomes even more evident with the accused using caste-based slurs against the victim. It can be argued here that a caste-specific slur is aimed at her micro identity of belonging to the Dalit section of the Hindu community and not her Hindu identity itself. However, as far as Abrahamic religions are concerned, the micro identities of caste, region, and language are secondary. It is the religious identity that drives the animosity of the perpetrator against the Hindu victim. In this case, while the perpetrator hurled caste abuses at the victim, the animosity was driven by his animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. The coercion, aimed at altering the victim's religious identity, along with the use of caste-based slurs by the accused clearly indicates a religiously motivated hate crime, and for these reasons, this case has been added to the 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
Complaint filed

Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male