Muslim man molests, assaults and threatens to shoot Hindu minor if she refuses to do Nikah
Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, India 
9 March, 2023
Case Summary
In the Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh, a youth named Mohammad Saqlain stalked, harassed, molested and threatened a Hindu girl studying in Class 9 in Kashiram Colony. He regularly followed her on her way to school and pressured her to marry him. Saqlain threatened to shoot her in the head if she refused to do Nikah with him. After the victim told her mother about the incident, the mother went to the house of the accused and voiced her complaints to the accused’s family. Even after this, the accused Saqlain went to the victim’s home with his mother and sister to assault the victim’s siblings. In addition, he threatened to kill the victim and throw acid at her father. The victim’s mother wrote a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeking justice for the same.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
In this case, there are two distinct components because of which it can be classified as a religious hate crime. First, the Hindu victim was forced to convert and pressured to do Nikah by the Muslim accused. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. The relationship in such cases is mostly consensual and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. In such cases, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Niqah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. Second, the Hindu victim was assaulted and threatened by the Muslim accused for not acceding to his demands. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu man. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu man. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. undefinedWhen Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu man. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. A hate crime is supposed to have taken place when the perpetrator intentionally targets an individual owing to his/her bias against a certain characteristic of that individual or his/her declared hatred towards that characteristic. A religious hate crime is one where the offence is committed against an individual or a group or an individual or a group of people are targeted specifically because of their religious identity. In cases where religiously motivated hate crimes against Hindu women in relationships are committed, it is seen that the perpetrator targets the victim specifically because of her religious identity of being a Hindu and is therefore a hate crime. Since this case meets two specific components of religiously motivated hate crimes against Hindu women, which are forced conversion before marriage, assault or threat upon refusal to convert, this case has been documented here.
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
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
