Tribal woman pressured by fellow Muslim women to convert to Islam

Case ID : 5954a1c | Location : Lohardaga, Jharkhand, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 21 December, 2024
Case ID : 5954a1c
location Lohardaga, Jharkhand, India
date 21 December, 2024
Tribal woman pressured by fellow Muslim women to convert to Islam
Predatory Proselytisation
Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

Jharia Oraon from Barwa Toli in Senha block, Lohardaga, filed a complaint with NCST member Dr Asha Lakra, stating that his wife, Sakalpati Oraon, was pressured to convert to another religion. A similar complaint was lodged at Senha Police Station. Sakalpati, aged 32, had been working in Ranchi for three years and living with Farooq Ansari of Banda village for two years. During this time, she stopped visiting her home and avoided contact with her family. Recently, she returned to her village, prompting a meeting where villagers decided she could rejoin the community if she adhered to Oraon customs, which she and her husband accepted. Afterwards, Sakalpati returned to Ranchi to collect her belongings. During a second village meeting, three Muslim women accompanied her and pressured her to return to Ranchi, claiming she owed them ₹35,000. When opposed by village women, the Muslim women behaved indecently and were expelled. Later, they reportedly took Sakalpati’s labour card, ration card, bank passbook, land documents, and ₹40,000 in cash. The women reportedly threatened her after returning to Ranchi and stated their intention to convert her.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted would be documented in another sub-category. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. In this instance, the Muslim women pressured the tribal woman to return to Ranchi, coercively demanding money and threatening her with conversion. The actions of these women, involving taking the victim's personal documents and belongings, underscore a pattern of religious coercion aimed at conversion, exploiting Sakalpati's vulnerable situation. Since exploiting vulnerabilities for the explicit purpose of conversion is purely based on animosity towards the victim's faith, this case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime.

Victim Details

Total Victim

1

Deceased

0


Gender

  • Male 0
  • Female 1
  • Third Gender 0
  • Unknown 0

Caste

  • SC/ST 1
  • OBC 0
  • General 0
  • Unknown 0

Age Group

  • Minor 1
  • Adult 0
  • Senior Citizen 0
  • Unknown 0
Case Status Background
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Case Status


Complaint filed

Case Status Background
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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Muslim Extremists

Perpetrators Range


From 2 To 5

Perpetrators Gender


female

Case Details SVG
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