Asif arrested in Saharanpur for raping, blackmailing with recorded video, and forcing a Dalit woman to convert to Islam
Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
13 October, 2024
Case Summary
On October 18, 2024, Uttar Pradesh Police arrested a 28-year-old Muslim man named Asif for raping and blackmailing a 22-year-old Dalit woman, while pressuring her to convert to Islam. According to Superintendent of Police Sagar Jain, the woman filed a complaint on October 14, stating that Asif recorded a video of the rape and used it to blackmail her. A case was registered at Nakur police station under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code. Asif was arrested on Ambehta Piritha Gangoh Road based on gathered information.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker as a religiously motivated hate crime under the prime category of 'Predatory proselytisation' and within this, the sub-category selected is- Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats in this case find their root on discriminatory grounds which have the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion and forceful circumcision. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment in an attempt to make the Hindu victim abandon his/her professed religion and adopt the religion of the perpetrator. In this sub-category, we would include cases where the non-Hindu perpetrator harassed, threatened or coerced the victim to convert, however, the Hindu victim did not convert to another faith. Cases where the victim was converted owing to the harassment and threats would be documented in another sub-category. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The details of this case reveal that the Muslim perpetrator, to alienate the Hindu victim from her professed faith inflicted torture on her. She was raped and blackmailed with her private pictures, all because the perpetrator wanted her to renounce her faith and accept Islam. Since the perpetrator employed violence and blackmailing with the sole aim of disenfranchising the victim from her faith, this case has been included in the tracker.
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 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
