Hashim of Kanpur poses as Om Prakash, blackmails Hindu friend's wife into converting to Islam, assaults her for not wearing burqa
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
28 April, 2024
Case Summary
In Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman accused her husband's friend, Hashim, of making obscene videos of her and blackmailing her. The victim, who has three children, reported that Hashim, who posed as a Hindu and called himself Om Prakash, visited her home under the pretence of learning astrology from her husband. Hashim secretly filmed her while she was bathing and used the video to blackmail and rape her. He pressured her to leave her husband and convert to Islam, taking her and her children to Kanpur's Naubasta area. There, he revealed his real identity, abused her, and forced her to visit Islamic religious sites like tombs and dargahs. He used to beat her up with a belt for not wearing a burqa. The victim also accused Hashim of molesting her minor daughter and drugging her. On April 29, 2024, the woman, accompanied by Bajrang Dal members, lodged a complaint with the Police Commissioner. An FIR was registered, and an investigation has commenced.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The details of the case make it evident that the accused, at first, trapped the victim and her family by hiding his religious identity. He singled out a Hindu woman as he considered her to be a soft target. However, this case has not been documented under the core category of 'hate crime against woman in a relationship' but under 'predatory proselytisation' because the accused in this case was not in any sort of relationship with the victim per se. He was the friend of the victim's husband and took advantage of this to target the victim. He committed the crime with the specific intention to alienate the victim from her Hindu identity, while also harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith. He harassed the victim and his family and employed threats and coercion to attempt to get the Hindu victim to give up her professed faith and accept Islam, an alien faith for her. In order to pressure her into conversion, the accused compelled the victim to follow Islamic practices like wearing a hijab and visiting the mosque. The accused also adopted intimidatory tactics like torturing the victim's minor daughter to arm-twist her into renouncing her professed faith and accepting Islam. The harassment and torture inflicted on the victim was rooted in animosity towards her religious identity and is therefore documented as a religiously motivated hate crime in this Hindu hate tracker. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats in this case find their root on discriminatory grounds which have the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion and forceful circumcision. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment in an attempt to make the Hindu victim abandon his/her professed religion and adopt the religion of the perpetrator. In this sub-category, we would include cases where the non-Hindu perpetrator harassed, threatened or coerced the victim to convert, however, the Hindu victim did not convert to another faith. Cases where the victim was converted owing to the harassment and threats would be documented in another sub-category. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 2
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
