Dalit Hindu woman lured, sexually exploited under false promise of marriage; accused hurled casteist abuse
Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India 
12 November, 2021
Case Summary
In the Raisinghnagar area of Sri Ganganagar district, Rajasthan, a Dalit Hindu woman was sexually exploited and hurled casteist abuse by a man named at Harpreet Singh, who lured her under false promise of marriage. According to reports, the victim came into contact with the accused, a resident of Ratewala, Rajasthan, about four years ago during a Jagran programme at her aunt’s house. During this time, the accused lured her into a relationship, under the false promise of marriage and repeatedly sexually exploited her under this pretext. During this time, the victim became pregnant twice and underwent two abortions, after which her health deteriorated and was treated by a female doctor in the village. When the victim later pressed the accused for marriage, he flatly refused. A Panchayat was convened to address the situation, during which the accused used abusive language and hurled casteist abuses at her. He also boasted during the panchayat meeting that he was involved in gambling, betting, and drug dealing, and that he made weekly payments to the police, implying that no one could take action against him. As of the date of writing this report, the victim filed a complaint with the police demanding strict action against the accused. Police registered an FIR under sections of rape on the pretext of marriage, forced abortions, threats, and caste-based abuse, and initiated an investigation into the incident.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: Hate speech against Hindus. Within it, the sub-category selected is: Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus, with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika, which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus, has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem from inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith; therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. The other primary category selected here is - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is- Brainwashed and/or groomed, with the tertiary category being - Rape and sexual assault/harassment. 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 a hate crime. This case has been added to the tracker because a Dalit Hindu woman was sexually exploited and hurled casteist abuse by the accused, who lured her under the false promise of marriage. Although the perpetrator’s religious identity was not known, the use of caste-based slurs indicated that the hostility was directed at the victim’s religious identity, rather than insults originating from personal grievance. Though it could be argued that a caste-specific slur targets only the micro-identity of caste rather than the broader Hindu identity. However, caste itself is not an identity that exists outside the Hindu fold, nor is it conceptually separable from it. A caste-directed insult only exists within Hindu society and carries meaning only in relation to the Hindu community and its social structure. Therefore, when the abuse is centred on humiliating and demeaning a Dalit Hindu individual based on her caste, it functions as an attack on her identity as a Hindu. Such actions are motivated by the perpetrator’s animosity towards Hinduism, aimed at dividing and fragmenting the Hindu society based on caste or through caste based humiliation. Furthermore, this also proves that the deception and the sexual exploitation of the victim were rooted in religious hostility. Thus, the victim was targeted due to her vulnerability and social position within the Hindu community and was sexually exploited and impregnated. The long-term deception, repeated sexual exploitation, and subsequent abandonment were all rooted in the accused’s religious hatred for Hindus, which later manifested through casteist slurs. When exploitation is directed at a Hindu woman specifically because she is a Hindu, it functions as an attack on her dignity and on the wider Hindu community. The pattern of targeting, sexual exploitation, abandonment and then publicly degrading her shows that the hostility was fundamentally directed at her Hindu identity. Since the caste-based humiliation and targeted sexual exploitation were motivated by religious hatred against the Hindu community, this case has been added to the tracker. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began, though it is mentioned that she came into contact with the accused about four years ago. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date—13 November 2021—as a placeholder to represent the beginning of her suffering. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 13 November 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 1
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Unknown
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
