Minor Hindu girl trapped into relationship and raped under the false pretext of marriage by married Muslim man posing as Hindu

Case ID : 30a9785 | Location : Rajkot, Gujarat, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 30 July, 2023

Case ID : 30a9785

Rajkot, Gujarat, India

30 July, 2023

Minor Hindu girl trapped into relationship and raped under the false pretext of marriage by married Muslim man posing as Hindu

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Case Summary

In Rajkot, Gujarat, a married Muslim man named Shahrukh Bashirbhai Jaam was arrested for entrapping a 17-year-old minor Hindu girl by concealing his religious identity and posing as a Hindu named "Vrushabh Dave". The accused repeatedly raped the minor under the false pretext of marriage and subsequently forced her to undergo an abortion when she became pregnant. According to the police complaint, the victim, who had lost her father at a young age, first met the accused at her sister's birthday party on 31st July 2023. Shahrukh introduced himself as Vrushabh Dave to gain her trust. Three days later, he initiated contact via text messages and lured her into a relationship by promising marriage. He later coaxed the minor and took her to the Vatsalya Hotel located behind a local bus stand, where he raped her. The sexual assaults continued at various locations under the continued false promise of marriage. The victim eventually discovered the accused's true religious identity and real name when she chanced upon his physical Aadhaar card. During this period, she also became pregnant. Shahrukh then revealed that he was already married but promised to secure a divorce. However, he instead procured medication from a local pharmacy, administered it to the victim, and forced an abortion. Following the abortion, when he continued to evade marriage, the victim confided in her maternal grandmother and ended the relationship. Based on her complaint, the Gandhigram police arrested Shahrukh and registered an FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, alongside charges of rape and other relevant sections of the law.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the Primary Category of Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the selected secondary category is: Man pretends to be Hindu. Under this subcategory, the selected tertiary category is "Name Changed". 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. This case qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime because the accused, Shahrukh Bashirbhai Jaam, systematically weaponised a fabricated Hindu identity "Vrushabh Dave" to bypass the protective social and religious boundaries of a minor Hindu girl. His deception was not a spontaneous act but a premeditated, predatory strategy. By adopting a name that resonated with the victim’s cultural and religious background, the perpetrator intentionally manipulated her trust to facilitate grooming and sexual exploitation. The use of a forged or hidden Aadhaar card to solidify this false persona demonstrates a calculated intent to commit religious fraud. The hate crime is further evidenced by the perpetrator’s conduct once the victim discovered his true identity: rather than allowing her to exercise her agency to exit the relationship, he escalated the violence. When the victim became pregnant as a result of his repeated rapes, he showed complete disregard for her bodily autonomy and dignity by forcing her to undergo an abortion. This case reflects a broader, systematic pattern where Hindu girls are targeted by individuals who view them as objects to be conquered and converted. By coercing the victim into a relationship through identity concealment and then subjecting her to sexual violence, forced abortion, and emotional torment, the perpetrator treated the victim’s religious identity as an obstacle to be dismantled through force and fraud. The victim's ordeal highlights the extreme psychological and physical harm inherent in such crimes, where the perpetrator’s actions are explicitly driven by the victim's Hindu identity, seeking to isolate, exploit, and eventually It is further important to note here that the victim was a minor, which means the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Minors, due to their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion or entering into such relationships, and the accused purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability. Since this case exemplifies the exploitation of her immaturity and emotional dependency, any claim of voluntariness is entirely vitiated, highlighting a deliberate strategy of deception and predatory grooming under a false identity. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. Because the exact timeline of when the victim's ordeal began remains unknown, we have used the next available verifiable date. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date as the date the incident was reported in the media, 31st July 2023.