Muslim man lures Hindu woman with promise of getting her a job, holds her hostage, burns her on refusal to convert to Islam

Case ID : 7f64ce3 | Location : Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 2 January, 2023

Case ID : 7f64ce3

Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

2 January, 2023

Muslim man lures Hindu woman with promise of getting her a job, holds her hostage, burns her on refusal to convert to Islam

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Forced conversion before marriage

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

An 18-year-old Dalit girl in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was held captive for 25 days by one Mohammad Shahnawaz in December 2022 after he lured her into his flat under the pretext of getting her a job. After they met, they developed a friendship and the girl stayed with the perpetrator for a few days. After a dispute, he got abusive. He tortured her to convert to Islam and thrashed her with a belt and wire after she refused to comply. Additionally, on January 3rd, 2023, when the accused caught the girl attempting to escape, he tried to kill her by dousing her in kerosene and setting her alive on fire. The girl suffered severe burns to her face and upper body. She was brought to Kanpur by her family members and admitted to a private nursing home in Juhi, from where she was shifted to Ursala Hospital. Two teams of police have been dispatched to Lucknow to arrest the accused after her family filed a complaint on January 23rd, 2023.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In this case, there are two distinct components which prove that the offence was committed coupled with a religious bias. The first component is that the Muslim perpetrator assaulted the Hindu victim when she refused 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. The second component which classifies this case as a religiously motivated hate crime is that the Muslim perpetrator killed the Hindu woman when she refused to convert to Islam. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is forced to convert her religion and upon her refusal to do so, the non-Hindu partner murders the victim. 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 pressuring the Hindu woman to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim man could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu woman is first pressurized to change her religion by the non-Hindu man. The pressure could involve threats and/or violence. The trigger to murdering the woman in these cases is her refusal to comply and change her religion under threat and/or force. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes.