Arshad Alam grooms minor girls into "love marriage", attempts Nikah after establishing sexual relations
Bihar, India 
9 October, 2024
Case Summary
An NGO named Mission Mukti Foundation complained to National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights (NCPCR) about a Muslim man exploiting girls, including minors. Taking to X, the NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said, “Arshad Alam runs an orchestra in Bihar where Mission Mukti Foundation had complained about the exploitation of minor girls. Following the instructions of @NCPCR_, Siwan police conducted a raid early this morning and rescued 6 girls.” Kanoongo also shared a video statement of accused Arshad Alam, who detailed how he groomed and exploited a minor girl in the name of "love." The Gopalganj resident said that he lured a Durgapur resident minor girl, did "love marriage" with her, and would do Nikah with her. Arshad Alam’s testimony revealed that he groomed minors by luring them into what he called a "love marriage." After establishing a relationship with the minor, he would take them to his parents for a Nikah, implying abduction and forced marriage. If the minor was non-Muslim, this would also involve forced conversion to Islam, adding an element of religious-based hate crime to the case.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added as a religiously motivated hate crime under the prime category 'Hate crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes' of the tracker. Under this, two sub-categories have been selected. The first is- Forced conversion after marriage. According to case details, the tertiary category, ' Forced to do Nikah', under the above-mentioned category has also been selected. 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. The second sub-category selected here is- Brainwashed and/or groomed and within this, three tertiary categories, namely, 'Pattern of targeting Hindu minors', 'Rape and sexual assault/harassment' and 'Conversion of minor' have also been selected. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered hate crimes. In this case, Arshad Alam engaged in a pattern of systematic exploitation and abuse targeting vulnerable minors, including non-Muslim girls, by grooming them under the guise of "love marriage" and then coercing them into Nikah, effectively enforcing forced conversion when they were non-Muslim. This exploitation highlights a clear religious motivation, as Alam’s actions centered on manipulating the minors’ religious identities and imposing his faith as a means of control. By utilizing religious conversion as a tool of coercion, his actions demonstrate not only exploitation but also deep-seated disrespect for the victims' faith, autonomy, and basic rights. Moreover, Alam’s focus on minors underscores the severe nature of his abuse, as these young victims, due to their age and lack of maturity, were particularly vulnerable to manipulation. Minors are typically unable to provide genuine consent or fully grasp the ramifications of religious conversion, making them easy targets for exploitation. Alam's deliberate targeting of their vulnerability points to a calculated intent to dominate and control through religious conversion, thereby turning his actions into a form of religiously motivated hate. Given the religious motive and Alam's systematic targeting of minors with the intent to convert, this case has been rightfully classified as a hate crime, marked by exploitation and religious coercion.
Victim Details
Total Victim
6
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 6
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 6
Age Group
- Minor 6
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
