Minor Hindu girl lured by a Muslim man posing as Hindu; accused exploited Hindu symbols like kalava and tilak and took victim to temples to deceive her
Alwar, Rajasthan, India 
25 October, 2024
Case Summary
In Alwar, Rajasthan, a man named Shahrukh was sentenced by the Special POCSO Court to prison and fined Rs 67,000 for deceiving a minor girl into marriage by hiding his religion. The court found Shahrukh guilty of befriending the girl under a false identity, presenting himself as "Sumit." He took the minor to temples wearing a Kalava (sacred thread) and Tilak, concealing his real identity. He also took her to Rajgarh, Jaipur, and Delhi. He tried to marry her by making her sign on blank paper in the Vedic Trust of Arya Samaj, but the victim refused. The accused took her to Gurugram, Haryana, thereafter. There, she discovered his true name. Shahrukh assaulted and raped her. The police apprehended him in Gurugram.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
There are several indicators of a religiously motivated hate crime in this case. The primary category this case is being added to is 'hate crimes against women in relationship and sexual crimes'. There are two sub-categories that have been selected in the case. The first sub-category is 'Man pretends to be Hindu'. There are several tertiary categories that this case falls into under this sub-category. The three tertiary categories are 'name changed', 'raped after Hindu woman finds out real identity' and 'wears symbols of Hinduism'. 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. In this case, the Muslim perpetrator pretended to be a Hindu to trap the Hindu minor victim into a 'relationship'. He also took her to the Temple and donned Hindu religious symbols to convince her that he was a Hindu and gain her trust. Thereafter, he attempted to marry her (a minor) by pretending to be a Hindu. The victim had, at the time, refused to marry him. Thereafter, when she found out his real identity (Muslim identity), he raped and assaulted her. This has the classic markings of a religiously motivated hate crime where the Muslim man pretended to be a Hindu to gain the trust of the victim, with the specific intent of exploiting her sexually and raped her when deceiving her into marrying him failed. It proves that the victim was targeted specifically for her religious identity. The second sub-category that this case has been added to is 'brainwashed and/or groomed'. 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 other category selected here is- Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories selected are- Conversion of minor and Rape and sexual assault/harassment. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. The incident reflects religious targeting because the accused deliberately concealed his identity and posed as a Hindu to gain the trust of a minor Hindu girl. He used Hindu religious symbols such as kalava and tilak and took her to temples to create the false impression that he shared her faith. This deceptive use of Hindu markers shows deliberate manipulation rooted in religious identity. When the victim refused to comply with his demands, the situation escalated into violence, showing that coercion and intimidation were directly linked to her refusal to accept the false religious narrative he had created. The combination of identity concealment, misuse of Hindu symbols, and violence for refusal makes this a clear case of religiously motivated targeting of a Hindu victim. The details of this case reveal that the Hindu victims were minors, indicating a lack of consent and a genuine change of conscience. It is a well-established fact that children are more susceptible to manipulation since they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully mature, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Moreover, subtle manipulation tactics can be difficult to detect. This makes it challenging for parents to identify and address instances of religious manipulation. Consequently, cases involving religious manipulation of minors not only represent an infringement on an individual's religious freedom but also demonstrate a calculated strategy of targeting those who are less able to resist or understand the long-term implications of conversion, making it a significant case of religiously motivated hate crime. For this reason, this case has been added to the tracker.
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 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Perpetrator held guilty by court
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
