Case Summary

In Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, an 18-year-old Hindu woman was gang-raped by two Muslim perpetrators and their six unidentified accomplices. Even a video of the assault was filmed by the perpetrators to blackmail the victim to further exploit her sexually. The news of this incident quickly went viral on social media. Even the Pratapgarh police referred to the case on their official X (formerly Twitter) handle. The Muslim accused were identified as Riyaz Ahmed and Atif Ahmed, while the remaining six accomplices remained unidentified. The FIR relating to this case also went viral online. According to the FIR, the victim had gone out to a nearby SBI ATM to withdraw cash. Afterwards, she met her friend and his brother, and they began conversing. Shortly thereafter, they went near the Loni River and sat together. At this location, eight individuals, including the two Muslim accused, arrived and started abusing the Hindu girl, her friend, and her friend's brother. Subsequently, the perpetrators assaulted her friend and her friend's brother. Afterwards, the two identified Muslim accused took obscene photographs of the girl and began threatening to make them viral. The victim was then forcibly taken to the Mohamadiya Islamia School, and behind the school, she was gang-raped by the Muslim perpetrators and their accomplices, one after another. The perpetrators again recorded an obscene video of the assault and blackmailed her, threatening to leak the footage if she ever revealed the incident to anyone. They also threatened to kill her family if she spoke about it and coerced the victim into giving them her mobile number. Afterwards, the victim was repeatedly harassed by the perpetrators, who continuously called her and demanded she meet them again for further sexual exploitation. The perpetrators also began approaching her home and contacting her. Deeply traumatised by these events, the victim shared her ordeal with her mother. Her mother then informed her father, and soon afterwards, they filed a complaint against all 8 perpetrators on 28th July 2025. The police registered a case and subsequently managed to arrest the two Muslim accused. While arresting them, the accused had opened fire on the police, but the police retaliated and succeeded in arresting both. Weapons were also recovered from the two Muslim accused, Riyaz and Atif.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

In this case, a Hindu woman was gang-raped by a group of two Muslim men and their six unidentified accomplices. This could potentially be a crime motivated by religious profiling, as it has been observed that in many cases, Muslim perpetrators target Hindu women due to inherent animosity towards Hindus and their faith. Hindu women and girls are very vulnerable to crimes like rape and sexual assault at the hands of Muslim men. However, it is also possible that the crime was one of opportunity, where the Hindu woman was simply accessible to the Muslim perpetrators. Meanwhile, it could also be argued that for Muslim perpetrators, a Muslim woman would likely be more accessible than a Hindu woman. The fact that the perpetrators specifically targeted a Hindu woman could suggest religious profiling of the victim. Nevertheless, this remains highly speculative, as the case details provide no clear indication of religious motivations. For this reason, this case is currently being added to the 'Undecided' database. If any further information emerges that hints towards a religious motivation behind the crime, then it would be reclassified and included in the hate crime database. Disclaimer: According to the FIR in this incident, the accused include two Muslims and six unidentified individuals. Hence, we are including only the two identified Muslim perpetrators in the perpetrator count.