Case Summary

In Garoth, Madhya Pradesh, a Muslim occult practitioner deceived multiple Hindu women by concealing his identity and posing as a Hindu tantrik. He targeted them and sexually exploited them under the guise of occult rituals. The incident took place in the small village of Balauda, located in the Garoth police station area of Mandsaur district, Madhya Pradesh. A Muslim youth named Mubarak Mansuri lured Hindu women through occult rituals and exorcism practices, and then engaged in sexual relations with them. Mubarak had been practising black magic for the past 10 years, deceiving innocent villagers in the name of treatment and progress. He specifically targeted Hindu women to satisfy his lust. According to the villagers, many Hindu women had already fallen victim to his deceit, but it was only after several years that someone finally mustered the courage to report his crimes to the police. Not only that, anyone who raised their voice against him was threatened with destruction through occult rituals, and if they still did not back down, he would go as far as to threaten to kill them. This was the reason why villagers feared him and could not openly oppose him. The police stated that Mubarak declared a Hindu man mentally ill, after which he targeted his sister-in-law. The complainant then gathered the courage to approach the Garoth police station. Acting on the complaint, the police raided the house of the accused and arrested him. Station in-charge Harish Malviya of Garoth police station said that the complainant reported the incident involving his sister-in-law, after which the accused was apprehended from his residence. Various objectionable books and materials related to hypnotism and sexual activities were seized from the location. The station in charge further stated that an investigation was underway to determine how many women the accused has victimised so far. Police also revealed that Mubarak created fake Aadhaar cards and other documents to hide his identity and used them while travelling to other places. Upon learning of the incident, Hindu organisations demanded strict action against the accused and called for a bulldozer to be used on his illegal property. Angry Hindu leaders warned of a large-scale protest if appropriate action is not taken against the accused.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Man pretends to be Hindu, with the tertiary categories being - Name changed and Pattern of targeting Hindu women. 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. The other sub-category selected is - Brainwashed and/or Groomed, with the tertiary category being - Rape and sexual assault/harassment and Pattern of targeting Hindu women. 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. This case presents several factors that suggest a religiously driven pattern of abuse against Hindu women. The man in question, Mubarak Mansuri, disguised himself as a Hindu tantrik. This was not a casual choice, but a calculated step to win the trust of women from the Hindu community by adopting its outward symbols and practices. By pretending to be a spiritual healer, he gained access to women who were likely seeking help or relief through religious rituals. This false identity enabled him to misuse their faith and cultural beliefs for his own ends. Such manipulation in the name of spirituality reflects a serious breach of trust and highlights a troubling misuse of religion for personal gain. In this case, the trust given to religious figures, especially in smaller or more traditional settings, was misused for acts of a sexual nature, making the situation deeply exploitative. The sexual exploitation of Hindu women in this case was not random but systematically orchestrated through religious deception and manipulation. This deception strikes at the very core of the victim’s religious trust and cultural identity, and thus constitutes a direct affront to the Hindu community. The accused consistently approached women from the Hindu community, suggesting a deliberate and repeated communal pattern. According to the police and accounts from local residents, his actions weren’t a one-off event but part of ongoing misconduct that had continued for several years. Hence, this case is reported in the hate crime database. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the women’s ordeal began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media.