Faizan threatens and abducts a married Dalit woman at knifepoint, attempts to convert her to Islam

Case ID : a0378bb | Location : Etah, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 2 November, 2024

Case ID : a0378bb

Etah, Uttar Pradesh, India

2 November, 2024

Faizan threatens and abducts a married Dalit woman at knifepoint, attempts to convert her to Islam

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In Etah district, Uttar Pradesh, a forceful conversion case involving a married Dalit woman surfaced on November 3, 2024. The main accused, Faizan, allegedly abducted the woman at knifepoint while she and her sister were in the fields. When the younger sister attempted to stop him, Faizan strangled her and threatened her with a knife, saying, “I will force your sister to accept Islam and convert her.” Faizan brandished a gun and forcibly took the victim away on his bike. The Dalit family alleged that Faizan’s brother and parents were complicit in the act. The police registered a case under various sections, including the SC/ST Act and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act. Faizan was arrested on November 8 while hiding in Etah, and investigations into his family’s alleged involvement continues.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been categorised as a religious hate crime where harassment, threat and coercion were deployed for trying to convert a Hindu woman to Islam. For this reason, the case has been added to the tracker under the category- Predatory Proselytisation and under this, the sub-category selected is- Harassment, threat and 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 has 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, forceful circumcision etc. 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 to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted 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. In this instance, the accused, Faizan, used intimidation and force to abduct a married Dalit woman with the stated aim of coercing her into conversion. According to the woman’s family, Faizan forcibly threatened the victim's younger sister, strangling her and brandishing a knife, while making his intention clear: to forcibly convert the elder sister to Islam. This incident underscores how the accused employed coercion and threats to target the victim's Hindu identity, ultimately infringing on her religious freedom and safety. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victim and the intention of disenfranchising her from it, the case has been included in the tracker.