Minor Hindu girl sexually exploited and abducted by married Muslim man under the false pretext of marriage

Case ID : 5954a15 | Location : Ranchi, Jharkhand, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 18 December, 2024
Case ID : 5954a15
location Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
date 18 December, 2024
Minor Hindu girl sexually exploited and abducted by married Muslim man under the false pretext of marriage
Predatory Proselytisation
Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Case Summary

In Bhandra, Lohardaga, an eighth-grade student residing in the area, was sexually exploited by 24-year-old Firoz Rai, also known as Chand, from Chanho, Ranchi. Subsequently, on December 19th, he abducted her, reportedly falsely promising marriage. It was revealed that Firoz was already a father of two. The girl, a student at a local private school, had left home under the guise of seeking medical treatment. When she failed to return, her family grew worried and began searching for her. Upon visiting the accused's residence, they were informed that he had also been missing since December 19th. They eventually discovered she had been deceived and taken away by a married Muslim man. The family promptly filed a complaint at the Bhandra police station, requesting their daughter's safe return. Arvind Kumar Singh, the police station-in-charge, confirmed that the case involved luring and kidnapping a minor with the intention of sexual exploitation. Consequently, a case was registered under the POCSO Act based on the family's complaint.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime under the prime category- Predatory proselytisation, of the tracker. Under this, the sub-category chosen is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. In this instance, the minor girl was sexually exploited and lured away by the Muslim perpetrator under the false promise of marriage. It is important to mention here that the underlying motivation of predatory proselytisation itself is animosity towards the professed faith of the victim. Furthermore, the victim in this case was a minor, which essentially means that the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. It is a well-established fact that children are more susceptible to manipulation since they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully matured, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Moreover, subtle manipulation tactics can be difficult to detect, especially when employed by trusted authority figures in positions of influence. This makes it challenging for parents, to identify and address instances of religious manipulations. Since the underlying offence, in this case, is against a child of a specific faith and involves subtle tactics of indoctrination, which obviously stems from a bias against the Hindu faith, this case has been documented as a hate crime.

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 Background
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Case Status


Complaint registered

Case Status Background
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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Muslim Extremists

Perpetrators Range


One Person

Perpetrators Gender


male

Case Details SVG
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