Muslim man rapes and forces a Hindu woman to convert to Islam, victim tries to commit suicide

Case ID : 7257476 | Location : Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 5 March, 2023

Case ID : 7257476

Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India

5 March, 2023

Muslim man rapes and forces a Hindu woman to convert to Islam, victim tries to commit suicide

Undecided cases

Rape or sexual harassment/assault of a Hindu woman

Case Summary

Maharashtra Police registered an FIR against one Sahil Mohammed Shakir Sayyed for establishing forceful sexual relations with a Hindu woman and issuing death threats to her. The accused also forced the woman to follow Islamic rituals and practices. The victim and the man got married as per the Islamic rituals in 2022. The woman got a new Islamic name and began staying with her husband in the Mukundnagar area. The accused, soon after, began eyeing the victim's Hindu female friends and started harassing them by calling them at odd times. He would also defame his wife on calls and issue death threats to her. Upon knowledge, the victim woman went to the police which turned the accused furious. He picked up a rod to hit the woman and to save herself from the beatings, the woman consumed a bottle of chemicals. Sahil Syyed took her to the hospital and sent her to her maternal aunt's. In the meantime, he started living with another Hindu woman. The accused then forced the victim woman to return and stay together with him and his new wife. On refusal, she was brutally raped and assaulted. He then threatened and abused her for not establishing a sexual relationship with him and his new wife. Allegedly, Sayyed had also snatched all her jewellery and assets including Rs 1.25 lakhs and refused to return them. A complaint has been registered under IPC sections 376 (rape), 377, 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), and also under sections of the SCST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In this case, the woman seems to have been aware of the man's religious identity. Further, there is no information to indicate that the woman was forced to change her religious identity and convert to Islam to marry the Muslim perpetrator. There is a strong suspicion, however, that the conduct and crimes of the perpetrator was motivated by religious hatred owing to his pattern of targeting Hindu women. However, since there is no testimony to substantiate his religious motiva and because there is no evidence to indicate that other Hindu women were unaware of his religious identity and/or forced to convert against their will, this case is being categorised as undecided. If more information emerges, it would be categorised as religiously motivated hate crime.