Hindu man shot at by Muslim woman’s brothers for interfaith marriage in Bijnor

Case ID : b45f56f | Location : Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 1 April, 2023

Case ID : b45f56f

Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India

1 April, 2023

Hindu man shot at by Muslim woman’s brothers for interfaith marriage in Bijnor

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family

Case Summary

Sheetal Chauhan, a Hindu man, married Nargis Parveen, a Muslim woman, against her family’s wishes. Enraged by the interfaith marriage, Nargis’s brother, Shahbez Ansari, plotted to kill Sheetal. The attack took place in the market area of Haldaur, Bijnor. Shahbez, along with his brothers Parvez and Suhaib, confronted Sheetal at a shop. They abused him, threatened to kill him for marrying a Muslim woman, and opened fire. Sheetal managed to escape multiple shots, but one bullet struck his chin. After the attack, the three brothers fled the market. Sheetal’s elder brother, Manvender Singh, lodged an FIR. Police soon arrested the accused. Shahbez's motive was revenge because his sister had married into a Hindu family. He, along with Parvez and Suhaib, has been booked under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 504 (insult), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (acts done with common intention). Meanwhile, Nargis Parveen also filed a complaint against her brother. She reported that on the same night after the attack, Shahbez came to her home and threatened to kill her and her daughter if she testified to the police. Based on her statement, Shahbez was booked again under IPC sections 504 and 506.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker un the primary category of - Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women. The sub-category selected is - Attacked by non-Hindu partner or/and her family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the partner or/and her family attacks the victim. 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. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman or her family. The force/pressure could involve threats. The trigger for directing violence against the Hindu man is in these cases his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is assaulted by the non-Hindu woman or her family simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the attack is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The Bijnor incident is a clear case of religiously motivated violence directed against a Hindu man for being in a relationship with a Muslim man. Sheetal Chauhan, a Hindu, entered into a consensual marriage with Nargis Parveen, a Muslim woman. The attack on Sheetal by Nargis’s brother, Shahbez Ansari, along with his associates, was not random or personal in nature but explicitly linked to the interfaith marriage and Sheetal’s Hindu identity. The assailants confronted him in public, abused him, and threatened to kill him specifically because he had married a Muslim woman while remaining a Hindu. This establishes the religious motivation behind the crime. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is considered invalid if a Muslim woman marries a non-Muslim man who does not convert to Islam. This belief often leads to severe disapproval from Muslim families in interfaith relationships, especially where the man is Hindu. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islamic doctrine, there is frequently intense pressure for the non-Muslim partner to convert. In many documented cases, this pressure manifests as harassment, emotional manipulation, and even violence. In this instance, the Hindu man had not converted, making his religious identity the central grievance for the Muslim woman’s family. The hostility in this case did not arise from a personal dispute between families but was centred on the religious difference between the partners. The accused's intent was revenge, as his sister had married into a Hindu family. This admission highlights that Sheetal was targeted not merely as an individual, but as a Hindu man who had entered into a marital relationship with a Muslim woman without conforming to the expectations of conversion or submission to the norms of the woman’s family and community. Further, the continuation of threats even after the attack strengthens the hate-crime dimension. When Nargis filed a complaint, she revealed that her brother threatened to kill both her and her daughter if she supported her Hindu husband before the police. This shows that the violence extended beyond Sheetal and was meant to intimidate and silence his wife and child as well, reinforcing the religious hostility underpinning the case. Therefore, this case is categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime as the religious identity of the victim played a central role in the attack, as the assailants’ grievance and violent actions were directly tied to Sheetal being a Hindu in a relationship with a Muslim woman.