Hindu woman forced to perform namaz and consume beef by Muslim boyfriend

Case ID : 5954835 | Location : Katni, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 27 November, 2024

Case ID : 5954835

Katni, Madhya Pradesh, India

27 November, 2024

Hindu woman forced to perform namaz and consume beef by Muslim boyfriend

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Forced conversion before marriage

Forced to eat beef

Forced to follow non-Hindu religious practices

Case Summary

In Madhya Pradesh's Katni district, a Hindu girl accused Sabir Ansari of exploitation under the guise of a relationship, stating physical abuse, forced abortions, and coercion into practices against her faith, such as eating beef and performing namaz. Following her complaint, the police arrested Ansari and launched an investigation into the case. The victim, a resident of the Ranganath Nagar police station area, stated that three years prior, she accepted Ansari's friend request on Instagram, leading to conversations and eventually a relationship. Ansari trapped her in a "love jihad" scenario, making promises of marriage to gain her trust. The relationship escalated to physical intimacy. Ansari silenced her objections by repeatedly assuring her of marriage. During this period, she was forced to undergo two abortions. The victim also said that Ansari pressured her to adopt practices contrary to her beliefs, including consuming beef and performing namaz. Later, the girl discovered Ansari was arranging his marriage with someone else. She visited his home to confront him, only to be met with threats. Ansari and his family warned her to remain silent, threatening her life if she revealed the truth. The victim confided in her family who supported her in filing a police complaint. Based on the victim's complaint, the police registered a case under sections 87, 64 (1), 64 (2), and 351 (2) of the Indian Penal Code. On November 28, 2024, law enforcement officials conducted a raid in the Bawali Tola area of Rangnath and arrested Ansari.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under the prime category of- Crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes, with the sub-category- Forced conversion before marriage, and tertiary categories 'Forced to eat beef' and 'Forced to follow non-Hindu religious practices', based on the explicit elements of religious coercion and targeting present in the case. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. The relationship in such cases is mostly consensual and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. In such cases, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The victim's account highlights that she was deliberately misled into a relationship through false assurances of marriage, only for the perpetrator, Sabir Ansari, to exploit her emotionally, physically, and religiously. The insistence on conversion before marriage demonstrates a clear intent to strip the victim of her religious identity and replace it with practices from another faith. Additionally, the victim's coercion into eating beef—a practice antithetical to her Hindu beliefs, where the cow holds deep spiritual reverence—represents a direct affront to her religious identity. This act was not only a violation of her personal and religious autonomy but also a deliberate attempt to denigrate her faith. The victim was also compelled to perform religious practices such as namaz, which further underscores the targeted effort to force her to relinquish her Hindu identity and conform to non-Hindu practices. Overall, the intentional targeting of the victim's faith, coercive tactics, and abuse signifies a crime rooted in hostility and animosity toward her religious identity, Given these elements, the case has been classified as a religiously motivated crime, driven by the accused's animosity towards the Hindu faith.