Mohd Matloom poses as Raju Thakur to lure Hindu woman into Nikah, threatens her with pistol, rapes and assaults her, abuses her family
Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
24 July, 2024
Case Summary
In the Hamirpur district in Uttar Pradesh, Mohammad Matloom posed as Raju Thakur and deceived a Hindu woman from Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, into believing he was Hindu. After weeks of online interactions via Facebook, he persuaded her to meet him in Hamirpur, where she discovered his true identity as a Muslim. On July 25, 2024, Matloom and his father, Mehboob, along with another accomplice, pressured her to convert to Islam and forced her into a nikah (Islamic marriage). Rubi, in her statement to the police, recounted the traumatic events that followed. “When I opposed, the unknown person and Mehboob threatened me with a pistol and said they would chop and throw me into the jungle. They locked me in a room. At night, Matloom, the son of Mehboob, raped me multiple times. He physically assaulted me and threatened to shoot me when I resisted,” she narrated her ordeal. The woman managed to escape the situation and return home the following day. However, Matloom and his accomplice continued to harass her and her family, making threatening calls and using abusive language. They also threatened to harm or abduct her family members. The victim filed a formal complaint, and an FIR was registered on October 16 at Biwnar police station. Despite her repeated appeals for help, authorities initially failed to take prompt action. Charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Uttar Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act were filed against the accused.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker as a religiously motivated hate crime under two prime categories. The first is- Hate crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes. Further, based on the details, four sub-categories have been selected under the aforementioned category. The first is- Man pretends to be Hindu, under which, two tertiary categories, namely, 'Name Changed' and 'Raped after Hindu woman finds out real identity', have also been selected. 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 second sub-category relevant here is- Forced conversion before marriage, under which the tertiary category- Forced to do Nikah, has been selected. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. The relationship in such cases is mostly consensual and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. In such cases, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The third sub-category under the above-mentioned category chosen here 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 pressurizing 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. Further, a fourth sub-category has also been selected under the aforementioned category, which 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. Apart from the abovementioned category, another prime category namely, Hate speech against Hindus, has also been selected here and within this, the sub-category that has been selected is- Violent threats. Violent threats, explicit, implicit or implied, is the most dangerous form of hate speech since it goes beyond discriminatory and prejudicial language to express the intent of causing harm to an individual or a group of people based on their religious identity and faith. There could be several different kinds of threats that are issued to Hindus based on religious animosity. An explicit threat would mean the direct threat of violence towards an individual Hindu, a group of Hindus or Hindus at large. Physical violence, death threats, threats of destruction of property belonging to Hindus and threats of genocide would mean explicit threats against Hindus for their religious identity. Implicit threats may not be a direct threat but implied through the use of symbols of actions – for example – in the Nupur Sharma case, other than explicit threats, there were also implicit threats when Islamists took to the streets to burn and beat her effigies. It implies that they want to do the same to Nupur Sharma – thereby is considered an implicit threat. Violent threats can be delivered in person, through letters, phone calls, graffiti, or increasingly through social media and other online platforms. It would be important to understand that a threat – explicit or implicit, online or offline – to an individual who happens to be a Hindu does not qualify as a religiously motivated threat. Such a threat, while vile and dangerous, could be owing to non-religious reasons and/or personal animosity. To qualify as a religiously motivated threat, it would need to exhibit an indication that the individual is being targeted for religious reasons and/or owing to his/her religious identity as a Hindu. This case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime under several key categories that highlight the coercive and violent nature of the crime. Firstly, the religious motive of the Muslim perpetrator becomes apparent from the fact that he actively hid his religious identity to deceive the Hindu victim. This, itself, is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. Further, the religious motive became more apparent when after gaining the woman's trust and leading her to believe he was Hindu, Matloom revealed his true identity as a Muslim and coerced her into converting to Islam. This was not a voluntary act of religious conversion, but rather one facilitated through manipulation and pressure. Matloom, along with his father and an accomplice, used forceful tactics to pressure her into a nikah (Islamic marriage), further exploiting her vulnerability. When the woman resisted the forced conversion and the marriage, Matloom and his accomplices escalated their actions by threatening her at gunpoint. This threat of violence was not only meant to force her submission but also to instil fear, illustrating the degree to which the perpetrators were willing to go to impose their religious agenda on her. As part of the violent coercion, Matloom sexually assaulted the victim multiple times, using rape as a tool to punish her for refusing to convert. The assault was accompanied by threats of death and further harm if she continued to resist. This act of violence was an extension of the pressure placed on her to abandon her faith and conform to the demands of the perpetrators, making it clear that the crime was motivated by religious animosity and a desire to forcefully convert her to Islam. This targeted violence is a direct expression of hate and intolerance towards the victim's religion, hence this case has been classified as a religious hate crime.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
