Hindu man threatened and coerced for conversion to Islam, by Muslim wife’s family

Case ID : aa4b108 | Location : Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 17 June, 2021

Case ID : aa4b108

Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India

17 June, 2021

Hindu man threatened and coerced for conversion to Islam, by Muslim wife’s family

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family

Case Summary

Hindu man Yashwant Kumar, a resident of Sopodera in the Parsudih police station area, approached the police seeking justice and protection following threats of religious conversion made by his Muslim wife’s family. According to Yashwant, he married Shahista Parveen, a Muslim woman from Azad Basti, on June 18, 2021, at the Sakchi Sheetla Temple. Since it was an interfaith marriage, Yashwant stated that he faced continuous threats from Parveen’s family, who had been pressuring him to convert to Islam. Yashwant expressed deep concern for his safety, fearing these threats could become a reality. He also stated that his wife was being manipulated by her family to turn against him and his religion. Additionally, he stated that Shahista had previously been subjected to harassment and pressure by her relatives at the police station. Emphasising that their marriage was consensual, Yashwant was seeking police protection to safeguard both himself and his wife amid the intimidation and communal pressure.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Threatened to convert by family of partner. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man faces threats to convert and change his religious identity by the non-Hindu woman or her family. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman or her family starts forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert to Islam and also assaults the victim to force him 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. Cases where the Hindu man 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 man was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. This case has been added to the tracker because Yashwant, a Hindu man, married a Muslim woman, and he was facing threats from her family to convert to Islam. As the victim stated, the marriage was consensual and entered into with full awareness of each other's religious identities. However, it was the woman’s family who were exerting pressure on Yashwant to change his religion. In addition to the threats, the family were also manipulating their daughter to persuade/coerce her husband into conversion. This case follows a concerning pattern observed in certain interfaith relationships, specifically those involving Hindu men and Muslim women, wherein the woman’s family or community insists that the Hindu partner convert to Islam. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is deemed illegitimate if the non-Muslim partner does not convert to Islam. For those who practice the faith, when their daughter marries a Hindu man without the man converting to Islam, the difference in religions followed becomes the main point of disapproval for the family of the Muslim woman. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islam, there is often intense pressure to ensure the partner adopts Islam. This pressure, as documented in several cases, can involve harassment, emotional manipulation, and even physical threats or coercion. Therefore, this incident qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime, targeting the victim's religious identity. In line with the criteria, it has been added to the tracker under the sub-category: “Threatened to convert by family of partner,” as it reflects a pattern of targeted abuse based on religious intolerance.