Hindu youth hacked to death by his Muslim wife’s father and brother over interfaith marriage

Case ID : 5954a46 | Location : Panvel, Maharashtra, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 17 October, 2023
Case ID : 5954a46
location Panvel, Maharashtra, India
date 17 October, 2023
Hindu youth hacked to death by his Muslim wife’s father and brother over interfaith marriage
Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women
Killed by non-Hindu partner's family
Attack resulting in death
Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

A 22-year-old Hindu youth identified as Karan Ramesh Chandra was brutally killed by his Muslim wife’s family members due to their interfaith marriage. The attackers, identified as the deceased victim's wife's father Gora Khan, along with his son, Salman Gora Khan, and Salman's friend Mohammad Khan, plotted to kill the couple as Gulnaaz had married a Hindu man against her family's wishes. According to the postmortem report, the man's cause of death was a slit neck from a sharp object. Two days later, the Panvel police discovered the body of a woman dumped behind the trees. The method of killing was similar to that of the man - a slit on the neck, with the bodies hidden at separate locations. The police arrested the three accused with assistance from Salman's other underage friends. Three minors have been detained by the police. Charges of murder (section 302) and causing the disappearance of evidence (section 201) have been filed against all the accused.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added as a religiously motivated hate crime under two prime categories of the tracker. The first is- Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women and under this, the sub-category selected is- Killed by non-Hindu partner's family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced/pressured to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the family of the non-Hindu partner murders the victim. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman and her family start forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman’s family. The pressure could involve threats. The trigger to murdering the Hindu man in these cases is his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is murdered by the family of the non-Hindu woman simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the murder is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The second category relevant here is- Attack resulting in death. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Attacked for Hindu identity. 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 several cases where a Hindu man is in a relationship with a Muslim woman, the family of the Muslim woman ends up assaulting or murdering the man because of their disapproval of the relationship. In such cases, the relationship is consensual and the man and woman are with each other knowing each other’s identity fully well. Such cases are often called ‘honour killings’ and are seen in associations across religions, castes, economic strata etc. In several cases, the motivations are stated and clear. For example, in some cases, the perpetrators would clearly mention what their main motivation to commit the crime was – whether it was because the partner was economically weaker or from a different caste or religion. In some cases, however, the motives are not stated and/or reported. To determine whether such cases are religiously motivated hate crimes, in the absence of a clearly stated motive, one has to understand what could possibly be the main factor which the perpetrator's family would believe diminishes the family’s ‘honour’, leading to the crime. For the purpose of this tracker, we would only be looking at cases where the determining factor of the crime is religion – which is to say that the man belongs to the Hindu faith and the woman to a non-Hindu faith. In such cases, even if the motivation is not stated, it can be said that the determining factor or at least one of the main considerations leading to the crime would be the religious identity of the man, especially if the woman in the relationship is a Muslim. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is deemed illegitimate if the non-Muslim partner does not convert to Islam. For those who practice the faith, when their daughter marries a Hindu man without the man converting to Islam, the difference in religions followed becomes the main point of disapproval for the family of the Muslim woman. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islam, even if the motivations are not explicit, it can reasonably be concluded as one of the determining factors of the assault or murder committed by the Muslim family against the Hindu man. For that reason, such crimes are considered hate crimes and form a part of this database.

Victim Details

Total Victim

1

Deceased

1


Gender

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

Caste

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

Age Group

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


Arrested

Case Status Background
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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Muslim Extremists

Perpetrators Range


From 2 To 5

Perpetrators Gender


male

Case Details SVG
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