Hindu Dalit woman raped and coerced to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim man

Case ID : 90a05a8 | Location : Belgaum, Karnataka, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 20 August, 2021

Case ID : 90a05a8

Belgaum, Karnataka, India

20 August, 2021

Hindu Dalit woman raped and coerced to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim man

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Brainwashed and/or groomed

Victim says she was brainwashed/groomed

Rape and sexual assault/harassment

Rape for refusal to convert

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Blackmailed to convert

Case Summary

A Hindu Dalit woman was raped, confined and forced to convert to Islam by a Muslim man named Rafiq. The victim woman was a mother of two children. She took care of a retail store in Munavalli village of Savadatti taluk. Rafiq, a frequent customer of the shop, built a friendship with her and then grew close to the victim. He asked her for her mobile number, but she refused. Rafiq obtained her number from her neighbour and spoke to her regularly. He sexually exploited her and collected videos and photos of the acts, in the name of securing a bank job and also pressured her to run away with him. The two indulged in an affair, and when her husband discovered this, he sent her back to her parents' house in 2021. The woman was reconciled with her spouse through the help of intervention from the villagers. He then threatened that he would upload her photos and videos on social media if she refused to provide him with sexual favours and went back to her children and husband. He forcefully took her to Swadar Kendra in Belagavi and imprisoned her in a rented home, and forced her to become a Muslim and marry him. She was pressurised to offer namaz and follow Islamic rituals. A woman kept an eye on her while she was there to make sure the victim didn’t escape. She was raped regularly by Rafiq, but one fine day, she managed to escape and filed a police complaint against Rafiq. Rafiq filed a petition in the Karnataka HC seeking bail in this case, but the HC rejected his plea, and Justice Rachaiah stated, it is inappropriate to grant the accused bail given the victim’s mental state and condition. The 33-year-old accused, Rafiq, also known as Laalsab Bepari, was charged with violations under the Indian Penal Code, Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Justice Rachaiah said, "It appeared from the record that she had managed to escape from the house, informed her husband and lodged a complaint. The eagerness of the victim to join her family by leaving the company of the appellant would indicate how much she had been subjected to harassment. Therefore, having considered her mental status and condition, it is not appropriate to grant bail to the petitioner." The Justice added, "It is needless to say that, while considering the bail applications, the factors which are required to be considered are nature of offence, gravity thereof and societal impact etc., In the present case, the act of inducing innocent and poor woman and forcibly converting to Islam is a serious development and therefore, in order to avoid such bad development, it is necessary to give message to society that courts are vigilant to regulate such activities and also guarding the innocent and underprivileged."

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category in this case is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The first subcategory under this is: Brainwashed and/or groomed. Within this, the two tertiary categories relevant here are- Victim says she was brainwashed/groomed and 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. The second sub-category selected is- Rape for refusal to convert. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces pressure/threats/violence to convert and change her religious identity 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 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. As the case may be, in such cases, the non-Hindu man forces himself sexually on the Hindu woman when she refuses his advances and pressures to convert her religion. The rape of the woman is often seen as either a punishment for the woman refusing to convert. 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 subcategory under this is: Assault or threat upon refusal to convert. 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 pressurising 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 fourth subcategory under this 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. This case is a religiously motivated hate crime against a Hindu Dalit woman, falling under multiple categories of crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. The perpetrator, Rafiq, systematically targeted the victim, using emotional manipulation, threats, blackmail, and sexual violence with the clear objective of erasing her Hindu identity through forced conversion to Islam. His actions began with building a relationship under false pretences, exploiting the victim’s trust, and later blackmailing her with intimate images to coerce compliance. The religious motive is direct and undisguised. After luring the victim into an affair, Rafiq forcibly confined her, pressured her to convert to Islam, and compelled her to adopt Islamic practices such as offering namaz. He not only demanded her conversion but also sought to formalise it through marriage within his faith, making religious transformation the central purpose of his control. The repeated rapes, threats, and surveillance were not random acts of violence but deliberate tools to break her will and force her to abandon her Hindu faith. The case fits the subcategory of rape for refusal to convert, as sexual violence was weaponised to punish and coerce the victim when she resisted abandoning her religion. It also meets the subcategory of assault or threat upon refusal to convert, as she was confined, monitored, and physically abused to force compliance. Blackmail to convert is evident in his use of intimate photos and videos to threaten public humiliation if she did not submit. This is not a conventional case of sexual assault. The victim’s Hindu religious identity was central to the perpetrator’s goal. Conversion was not an incidental demand but the driving purpose, with sexual exploitation, threats, and confinement all serving that end. By seeking to forcibly convert a Hindu Dalit woman, the perpetrator engaged in an act of ideological violence intended to erase her identity, autonomy, and right to practice her faith. Such acts target not only the individual but also the broader community, making them a direct assault on religious freedom and dignity. 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. The earliest date mentioned is the year 2021, when she was sent back to her parents. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began and not when it was reported, for the purpose of documentation, we have used August 21, 2021, as a notional start date to mark the beginning of her suffering. It is exactly 3 years prior to the media reporting the incident on 21 August 2024.