Dalit woman found hanging in Nawab Ali's house, family says murdered by Muslims for her identity

Case ID : 2e1d5ad | Location : Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 10 October, 2024

Case ID : 2e1d5ad

Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India

10 October, 2024

Dalit woman found hanging in Nawab Ali's house, family says murdered by Muslims for her identity

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Siddharthnagar district, UP, the body of a 21-year-old Dalit woman was discovered in the home of Nawab Ali on October 11, 2024. The woman’s mother said that her daughter was murdered, with her body later hanged to create the appearance of suicide. Police registered an FIR and began investigating, though the local administration had initially labelled the incident a suicide, citing a longstanding acquaintance between the deceased and the accused. The incident took place in the Chilhia police station area, where the young woman lived with her family in the village of Bukniha. Nawab Ali, a neighbour who works in Mumbai, had recently returned to the village. According to the victim’s family, he and his family members, including Qaiser, Wajid, and Roshan Ali, had been observing her closely since his return. The family said that on October 11, while the victim was sleeping on the roof, she was abducted using a ladder, confined to a room, beaten severely, and died as a result. They said that her body was then staged in a hanging position. The victim’s grieving family members conveyed their anguish to the media, stating that the accused targeted their daughter due to caste and religious differences, with the girl’s mother calling for justice. "We are Ch$% and they are Muslims, that's why they killed our girl," they said. After the body was found, the men in Nawab Ali’s household reportedly fled. Siddharthnagar police acknowledged the recovery of the body from Nawab Ali’s house and stated that an FIR was filed.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime. Under this category, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. In this case, according to the family, the perpetrators murdered the Hindu girl because of her religious identity. The family said that she was kidnapped, beaten and killed because they are "Ch*mars" and they are "Muslims" - essentially saying that the Muslim perpetrators harboured animosity towards the girl and their family because of her identity. The religious motive and animosity towards the Hindu woman is indicated by the fact that the family believes it was her caste which led to the animosity. It can be argued that a caste-specific animosity 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, therefore, the family saying that the Muslim perpetrators killed the Hindu woman for her Dalit identity, it is pertinent to note that in the case of non-Hindus harbouring animosity towards a Dalit, it is the macro identity of a Hindu that the animosity is directed at. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database.