Hindu woman deceived and married by Muslim man who pretended to be Hindu

Case ID : 90a09cd | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 31 December, 2021

Case ID : 90a09cd

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

31 December, 2021

Hindu woman deceived and married by Muslim man who pretended to be Hindu

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Case Summary

A Hindu woman from Indore was deceived and trapped into a marriage by a Muslim man named Riyaz who faked his identity and posed as Raja. According to media reports, the entire incident unfolded when a Hindu woman from Indore came into contact with Riyaz, the son of Munna Khan, in the year 2022. At the time of their acquaintance, Riyaz introduced himself as Raja. Gradually, he grew close to the woman, and within a short period, he married her under this false identity. After the marriage, the woman gave birth to a daughter. Gradually, the woman began to suspect that Raja was hiding something from her. When she investigated further, she was shocked to discover the truth. The man she had married, believing him to be a Hindu, was actually Riyaz, not Raja. Furthermore, he was already married and resided in Ujjain’s Anda Gali area. Upon learning the truth, the woman filed a case against Riyaz at the Juni Indore police station and later approached the Khara Kuwa police station in Ujjain for the same matter. However, when Riyaz learned about this, he deceptively called her to Ujjain, where he assaulted the woman and threatened to kill her. Bajrang Dal's district coordinator Rishabh Kushwaha supported the Hindu girl in this case when the case came to his notice. Members of the Bajrang Dal caught hold of Riyaz and handed him over to the Nanakheda police station. The police registered a case against Riyaz under sections 64, 74, 206, 115 (2), and 351 (3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS).

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The case has been added to the tracker as a religiously motivated hate crime under the category of- Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Man pretends to be Hindu and the tertiary category chosen is- Name changed. When a non-Hindu man pretends to be a Hindu to deceive a Hindu woman into a relationship, the act is seen as triggered by malafide intentions. In some cases, the woman eventually accepts the man’s original religious identity and converts after the man’s identity is revealed. These cases could be argued as cases of religious brainwashing and a result of the pressure a woman feels after getting into a relationship with a man. The woman, it can be argued, also changed her religious identity because of the stigma she believes she might face if she chooses to walk out of a deceptive relationship. However, for the purpose of documenting hate crimes, the cases in this subcategory are limited to those where there is explicit violence aimed at religious conversion against the wishes of the victim (force-feeding beef, blackmailing with intimate videos, rape on refusal to convert, etc), or if the woman herself complains of the man’s religious deception. In such cases, it is established that the deception of the non-Hindu man had a specific aim of religious conversion or targeting of the victim due to her Hindu religious identity, therefore making it a religiously motivated hate crime. The religious motive of the crime is evident from the fact that the Muslim perpetrator hid his true identity to trap the Hindu victim. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and "ensnare" a Hindu individual is not just an act of personal betrayal but can also be interpreted as an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs that reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs, and this is why this case has been added in the Hinduphobia tracker. Disclaimer: Here, it is mentioned that the accused came into contact with the victim in the year 2022. Since the exact date is not mentioned, we have chosen a date which is not accurate but only indicative of the year.