‘Mrs India Galaxy’ says she was force-fed beef, forced to do namaz by former Muslim boyfriend

Case ID : a0378ca | Location : India | Date of Incident : Thu, 7 November, 2024

Case ID : a0378ca

India

7 November, 2024

‘Mrs India Galaxy’ says she was force-fed beef, forced to do namaz by former Muslim boyfriend

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Forced conversion before marriage

Forced to eat beef

Forced to follow non-Hindu religious practices

Assault or threat upon refusal to convert

Case Summary

Rinima Borah, the newly crowned Mrs. India Galaxy 2024, shared her traumatic experience of abuse and forced religious conversion by a former Muslim boyfriend during an interview with Assamese YouTuber Aboyob Bhuyan on November 8. She revealed that her ex-boyfriend, along with his family, forced her to eat beef, made her perform Namaz, and changed her name to Ayesha Hussain. She recounted being physically abused and even threatened with acid attacks if she tried to leave the relationship. The video went viral on Instagram and YouTube, with many Hindus sharing it to raise alarms about the dangers of grooming jihad.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case involving Rinima Borah’s harrowing experience can be categorized as a religiously motivated hate crime across several distinct dimensions. First, it falls under the category of 'Hate crimes against women in relationships and sexual crimes'. Under this, two sub-categories have been selected, based on the details of the case. The first is- Forced conversion before marriage. Further, under this, two tertiary categories, namely, 'Forced to eat beef' and 'Forced to follow non-Hindu religious practices' have been chosen, 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 second sub-category chosen under the above-mentioned category 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. In this instance, Rinima Borah was coerced into adopting practices associated with Islam, including the consumption of beef—a direct violation of her Hindu faith—and performing Namaz. Additionally, her name was changed to Ayesha Hussain, symbolically erasing her Hindu identity and imposing an Islamic identity. Such coercion highlights a pattern of attempting to strip individuals of their religious beliefs. The second relevant category is assault or threat upon refusal to convert, as Borah’s narrative describes not only emotional manipulation but also severe physical abuse and threats, including a threat of an acid attack. This form of intimidation illustrates how coercive measures are used to enforce conversion. Since this case has a distinct religious angle where the victim was targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, it has been considered a hate crime and added to the tracker.