Hindu minor girl faced repeated sexual assault and conspiracy to sell by a Muslim man in Bharuch, Gujarat.

Case ID : d326f84 | Location : Bharuch, Gujarat, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 23 March, 2019

Case ID : d326f84

Bharuch, Gujarat, India

23 March, 2019

Hindu minor girl faced repeated sexual assault and conspiracy to sell by a Muslim man in Bharuch, Gujarat.

Undecided cases

Rape or sexual harassment/assault of a Hindu woman

Case Summary

Hindu minor girl faced repeated sexual assault and conspiracy to sell by a Muslim man named Altaf Hussain Abdul Rehman Dewan, in Bharuch, Gujarat. The girl was the daughter of a married woman with whom Dewan, a rickshaw driver, was in a relationship. He raped the girl over an extended period of time. The had victim initially informed her mother about the assaults. The mother however took no action despite being aware of the abuse. The victim remained silent for a prolonged period due to fear. She eventually confided in a friend, narrating the entire sequence of events. On 24 March 2019, following the victim's disclosure, a formal complaint was lodged with the police. Investigation revealed that Dewan had hatched a plan to sell the minor girl in addition to sexually abusing her. The prolonged abuse caused serious psychological trauma to the victim. The victim's mother was initially included as an accused in the case. However, the court later acquitted her due to a lack of evidence. During the trial, Public Prosecutor P. B. Pandya presented evidence including the victim's testimony, medical reports, and other supporting documentation. Based on the evidence, the Special Armed Battle Crime Court in Bharuch convicted Dewan under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and other applicable laws. The court described the case as a serious offence of sexual exploitation and highlighted that the conspiracy to sell the victim aggravated the severity of the crime. The judgment emphasised the importance of protecting victims of sexual abuse and ensuring strict punishment for perpetrators.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The case appeared to have elements that could suggest a religiously motivated hate crime. The perpetrator, a Muslim man, specifically targeted a Hindu minor girl for repeated sexual assault and hatched a conspiracy to sell her. The fact that the victim belonged to a different religious community could indicate potential bias in the selection of the target. However, it was also possible that the crime was one of opportunity, where the minor Hindu girl was simply accessible to the perpetrator. In contrast, it could be argued that for a Muslim man, a Muslim girl might have been more accessible than a Hindu girl. The choice of the Hindu victim, therefore, raised questions about whether religious identity played a role in the perpetrator’s actions. Despite these considerations, this remained highly speculative, as the case details provided no clear indication of religious motivation. Neither the victim nor her parents had made any statements suggesting that the crime was motivated by religion. For this reason, the case was added to the 'Undecided' database. Should further information emerge that pointed to a religious motive, the case would be reclassified and included in the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when the event occurred or when the victim’s ordeal began. None of the media sources covering this case specified the exact date the abuse began. For documentation purposes, the date was recorded as the day the complaint was filed – 24 March 2019.