Hindu boy harassed by his Muslim girlfriend's family commits suicide

Case ID : b5073e0 | Location : Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 3 November, 2024

Case ID : b5073e0

Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India

3 November, 2024

Hindu boy harassed by his Muslim girlfriend's family commits suicide

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Attacked/killed for being associated or suspicion of being associated with Muslim woman

Case Summary

In Sahanpur village, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, an interfaith love story ended with the suicides of an 18-year-old Muslim girl and a 21-year-old Hindu boy. Despite their long-standing friendship and desire to marry, the girl’s family opposed their relationship. A few months earlier, the boy had been jailed on accusations of kidnapping the girl, a case filed by her mother. After spending a month in jail, he was released on bail. On the night of November 3, 2024, the girl was found hanging in her home. The next day, upon hearing the news, the boy also took his own life by hanging himself in his room. The police found no suicide notes at either location. Families of both individuals filed complaints against each other. Relatives and neighbours claim the couple was deeply in love and wanted to be together, but familial and societal pressures made this impossible. The boy’s prior arrest for allegedly kidnapping the girl added strain to their situation.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under two prime categories. The first is- Men attacked for being associated with non-women. Under this, the sub-category selected- Attacked/killed for being associated or suspicion of being associated with Muslim woman, as it exemplifies religiously motivated hate stemming from ingrained biases and the refusal to accept Hindu individuals in interfaith relationships without conversion. There have been several cases documented of Hindu men/boys being attacked specifically by Muslim groups/mobs for merely being associated or suspicion of being associated or being seen with a Muslim woman in public. In most of such cases, the Hindu man is not in a relationship with the Muslim woman, however, the mob proceeds to threaten and/or assault the Hindu man for merely being associated with the Muslim woman in any capacity. The rise of such crimes stems from a particularly sinister campaign run by several Muslim ideologues and activists. The campaign claims that Hindu men are attempting to ‘lure’ Muslim women into relationships to ensure that Muslim women leave their faith and follow Hinduism. The propaganda has been spearheaded with the help of WhatsApp groups and the extensive use of social media, sans evidence of the same. In many cases, pamphlets were fabricated to lend credence to this campaign. The root of this campaign lies in the fact that several cases of sectarian crimes against Hindu women in relationships with Muslim men have been documented. In such cases, Hindu women have often been forced/pressured to convert to Islam, assaulted, threatened and even murdered owing specifically to their religious identity and their refusal to give up that religious identity to adopt Islam. To delegitimize the suffering of Hindu women when such sectarian crimes are committed against them, the theory of ‘Bhagwa Love Trap’ was floated by sections of the Muslim community. As this theory gained traction, Muslim mobs started targeting Hindu men who were seen with Muslim women. In several such cases, the Hindu man was assaulted merely for offering to drop a Muslim woman in his vehicle or being friends. The differentiating factor between such cases and legitimate cases of Hindu women being targeted while in a relationship with Muslim men is that there is no sectarian violence, and force/pressure to convert. The nature of sectarian violence against Hindu women is not about two adults in a consensual relationship, working together, studying together, or even marrying each other where religious considerations are declared. In this category of crimes, it is pertinent to remember that in none of the cases, there is an element of the Hindu man masking his identity or forced religious conversion. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. The main component which makes it worthy of being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime is that the family of his Muslim partner harassed a Hindu man for being in a relationship with her. The harassment was to an extent that led the Hindu youth to commit suicide. In this case, the relationship was consensual and the man and woman were with each other knowing each other’s identity fully well. However, 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, the perpetrator family believes that such interfaith relationships diminish the family’s ‘honour’. In this case, also, the inherent animosity for the Hindu religion prompted the family of the Muslim girl to go to the extent of killing the Hindu man, making this case worthy of being documented in the tracker under the sub-category 'Killed by non-Hindu partner's family' within the prime category 'Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu woman. In this case, the relationship between the Hindu man and the Muslim woman was consensual, with both individuals fully aware of each other’s religious identities. However, the Muslim woman's family viewed the relationship as a dishonour, rooted in their perception of religious superiority and the belief that their family’s "honour" was compromised by the union. The animosity toward the Hindu faith became the central factor driving the family to harass the man, culminating in his death. Such actions reveal a broader pattern of religious intolerance, where the Hindu man's identity becomes the focal point of hostility. Given these elements, the case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime, driven by the accused's animosity towards the Hindu faith.