Muslim man disguised as Hindu to enter Indore's Garba event with minor girl, objectionable photos with multiple girls found on his phone
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India 
9 October, 2024
Case Summary
On the night of October 10, members of the Hindu Jagran Manch detained a youth, identified as Aamir Khan, who attempted to participate in Garba festivities at Vaibhav Shri Garden in Indore's MR 10 area while concealing his Muslim identity. Aamir, posing as "Aman," attended the event with a minor girl. Jagran Manch activists became suspicious and discovered his true identity through an ID card, prompting them to alert the police. Investigations revealed that the minor girl was reported missing from Balaghat, raising concerns about their presence at the event. The police detained Aamir Khan and began inquiries involving the minor and her family. The activists reported that Aamir Khan had attended the event with multiple girls, including minors. Upon examining his mobile phone, they found explicit images and conversations that heightened concerns about his intentions. This incident raised alarms among Hindu activists, who expressed worry about non-Hindus disguising their identities to attend Garba events. They called for stricter monitoring measures, including mandatory ID checks, to prevent similar situations in the future.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker as a hate crime under two prime categories. The first is- Hate crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes, under which, the secondary category selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu. Under this sub-category, two tertiary categories named, 'Name changed' and 'Pattern of targeting Hindu women' have also been selected. 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. The second category relevant here is- Attack on Hindu religious symbols and within this, the sub-category selected is- Defiling religious customs. Sanatan Dharma is not a religion of one book, which is to say that while it has religious scriptures that form the central tenets of the faith, there are several traditions followed through thousands of years, mostly passed from generation to generation orally. There are several such customs and traditions that are followed by various Hindus and Hindu sects. Defiling these traditions and customs is a breach of an individual or group’s religious practices. Such practices can range from dietary restrictions like not eating non-vegetarian food for a certain period of the year, not eating non-vegetarian food at all, not eating beef since the cow is considered holy in Hinduism, the sanctity of religious customs followed in the house (like many ISCKON devotees), etc. Any malicious action leading to the breach of such traditions or defilement of these traditions owing to animosity towards the faith or for the sake of activism stems not only from the lack of faith in the religion itself but also from disregard for the faith of the devotees who follow the customs/traditions and implicit bias against the faith, the tradition itself. Since these specific traditions are central to the faith of the devotees of that specific sect of Hindus, any non-compliance with these traditional rules would be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. This incident can be seen as a hate crime against Hindus, as Aamir Khan, a Muslim, allegedly disguised himself as a Hindu to gain access to a Hindu religious event, the Garba festivities. His act of concealing his identity under the false name "Aman" and his presence with a minor girl confirms that his intentions were not genuine, but rather aimed at targeting Hindus specifically. The other important thread in this case is grooming. 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 a hate crime. The concealment of Aamir Khan's real identity, posing as a Hindu to gain access to the Garba event, coupled with the discovery of explicit content on his phone and the fact that he attended with multiple girls, including minors, underscores the premeditated nature of his actions. This was not an isolated incident but rather a deliberate attempt to exploit a Hindu religious gathering, specifically targeting Hindu girls. The religious motive of the crime is evident from the fact that the perpetrator's intention was to specifically target only Hindu women. This stems from the perpetrators's bias for the Hindu faith, which is why this case has been documented as a hate crime. It is pertinent to note that, based on the case details, there is one confirmed victim in this incident. While other Hindu girls were also targeted by the accused, the number of victims remains unverified. Therefore, for accuracy and consistency, the victim count has been recorded as one.
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 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
