Muslim youth promises to become Hindu to lure Hindu woman into marriage, abandons her when she gets pregnant
Khambhalia, Gujarat, India 
28 January, 2023
Case Summary
In Khambhalia town of Dwarka district, Gujarat, a Muslim man named Altaf Misaria lured a 31-year-old Hindu woman to marry him saying that he will convert to Hinduism. Altaf Misaria befriended a 31-year-old Hindu girl residing in Jamnagar in 2021, and the two entered into a relationship soon after. The accused told the Hindu girl that the two cannot get married as he is Muslim, and in order to win the victim’s trust, promised to become a Hindu. He took her to Rajkot and Jamnagar on numerous occasions over the course of two years and established sexual relations with her. After the victim became pregnant, Altaf abandoned her. The victim went to Altaf’s house where the accused’s mother Maroon, sister Mumtaz, and cousin Sophia threw her out after abusing her and threatening to kill her if she returned. However, Altaf later reconciled with the Hindu girl and the duo started living together. Soon the victim’s unborn child died in the womb. After this, the accused left the victim again. Based on the girl’s complaint, the Khambhalia police registered a case against Altaf, Maroonben, Mumtaz and Sophia.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
In this case, there is no specific element of the Muslin accused hiding his identity, but, since he promised to become Hindu and based on that, trapped the Hindu woman only to exploit her and leave her after that, there is a religious angle to the case where it can be argued that the Muslim man pretended to be interested in adopting the victim's religion only to exploit her, therefore, this case is being included in the sub-cat- ‘Man pretends to be Hindu’. 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.
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
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
