Hindu woman who won 'Mrs India Galazy' was forced to adopt a Muslim name, consume beef and perform Namaz by former partner
India 
7 November, 2024
Case Summary
On November 8, Rinima Borah, the winner of Mrs India Galaxy 2024, recounted a deeply disturbing experience of abuse and forced religious conversion by her former Muslim boyfriend during an interview with Assamese YouTuber Aboyob Bhuyan. She shared how she was coerced by her ex-boyfriend and his family into eating beef, performing Namaz, and changing her name to Ayesha Hussain. Along with physical abuse, she was also threatened with acid attacks if she tried to leave.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case is being added to the primary category 'hate crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes'. Two sub-categories have been chosen in this case. The first sub-category is 'forced conversion before marriage'. The tertiary categories chosen are 'forced to eat beef' and 'forced to follow non-Hindu religious practices'. 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 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 case, the Hindu woman spoke about violent attempts to disenfranchise her from her professed faith by her Muslim partner. She was forced to change her name to a Muslim name, forced to consume beef and follow non-Hindu religious practices. Force-feeding beef has particular significance as cow meat has been historically used to persecute Hindus. There have been numerous instances in history where cow meat has been used to desecrate sacred religious spaces of Hindus and used to forcefully convert Hindus to Islam. The actions of the Muslim partner were driven by religious hostility towards the Hindu woman's professed faith and were designed to disenfranchise her. Further, the Muslim partner also assaulted and threatened the Hindu woman when she refused to convert and wanted to end the relationship, owing to harassment and abuse to convert. Since the crime is specifically driven by religious animosity, it is being categorised as a 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
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
