Minor Hindu girl lured by Muslim man pretending to be Hindu, blackmailed and forced to convert to Islam

Case ID : 5954ab0 | Location : Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 29 December, 2024
Case ID : 5954ab0
location Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
date 29 December, 2024
Minor Hindu girl lured by Muslim man pretending to be Hindu, blackmailed and forced to convert to Islam
Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes
Blackmailed to convert
Man pretends to be Hindu
Name Changed
Brainwashed and/or groomed
Conversion of minor

Case Summary

A Class 11th minor Hindu girl in Uttar Pradesh was lured by a man who initially identified himself as "Raj." He befriended her on her way to school and gradually gained her trust. One day, he took her to a secluded place on his bike, drugged her through a spiked cold drink, and recorded an obscene video of her while she was unconscious. The accused later blackmailed the girl, threatening to leak the video online if she refused to convert to Islam under his pressure. Distressed by the blackmail, the girl revealed the incident to her family. Upon filing a complaint at the Bidhanu police station, the police registered an FIR and began an investigation. ACP Ranjit Kumar confirmed that the girl’s statement had been recorded under Section 164, and efforts were underway to locate the accused. Further investigation exposed that "Raj" was using a false identity and his real name was "Zafar." This revelation left the victim feeling deeply betrayed. The police assured a thorough investigation and appropriate legal action.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Further, based on case details, three sub-categories have been selected under the above-mentioned category. The first is- Man pretends to be Hindu and within this, the tertiary category of- Name changed, has been selected. 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. The second sub-category selected here is- Blackmailed to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The third sub-category within which this case has been placed is- Brainwashed and/or groomed, and within this, the tertiary category of- Conversion of minor, has been selected. In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered hate crimes. Here, the Muslim perpetrator assumed a false religious identity to lure the minor Hindu girl into a relationship. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. Further, the religious angle of the crime became more apparent when the Muslim man recorded her private videos and used them to blackmail her to convert to Islam. This points towards a crime with his motivations being driven by religious hate. It is important to note that the victim here is 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, making it challenging for parents, to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. 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 filed

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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