Hindu woman lured into relationship and strangled her to death over minor issue by Muslim man faking Hindu identity

Case ID : d327935 | Location : Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 13 August, 2021

Case ID : d327935

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

13 August, 2021

Hindu woman lured into relationship and strangled her to death over minor issue by Muslim man faking Hindu identity

Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes

Man pretends to be Hindu

Name Changed

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

A Hindu woman named Deeksha was lured into a relationship by a Muslim man named Imran by pretending to be Hindu. He later strangled her to death after having a dispute with her over a minor issue. According to reports, the accused, Imran, had concealed his Muslim identity and introduced himself to Deeksha as a Hindu man named Rishabh Tiwari. The two had met in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, while he was working in property dealing in a predominantly Hindu locality where Deeksha resided, and he had adopted the Hindu name in that context. Deeksha, who had married in 2008 and divorced two years later, was lured into a relationship by the accused under the false Hindu identity, and at the time of her death, was living with the accused. On 14 August 2021, the group comprising Imran, Shweta Sharma, Almas, Deeksha, and others travelled to Nainital for a trip and checked into Hotel Galaxy in the Mallital area, booking two separate rooms. Shweta and Almas stayed in one room, while Deeksha shared the other with Rishabh, who had been living with her in a live-in relationship. During their stay in Nainital, a dispute arose between Imran and Deeksha after he saw a message from her former boyfriend on her mobile phone, which escalated into violence. The accused then strangled her to death in the hotel room. On 16 August 2021, when Deeksha did not respond to repeated calls, her friends attempted to contact the accused, but his phone was also switched off. Upon opening the hotel room, they found Deeksha lying naked on the bed and unresponsive, while the accused, Imran, was missing from the premises. The police immediately registered a case of murder and subsequently arrested the accused. The matter was tried before the court of District and Sessions Judge Prashant Joshi in Nainital, where statements of 17 witnesses were recorded, and forensic evidence from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory was placed on record. Upon consideration of the evidence and arguments, the court convicted Imran Rishabh Tiwari of murder and remanded him to judicial custody.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been documented under the selected primary category: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes. Under this, the selected secondary category is: Man pretends to be Hindu. Under this, the selected tertiary category is: Name changed. 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 malicious 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 primary category selected here is - Attack resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime. Under this category, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu woman named Deeksha was lured into a relationship by a Muslim man named Imran by pretending to be Hindu, who later strangled her to death after having a dispute with her over a minor issue. Firstly, the Muslim man deliberately concealed his religious identity to initiate and sustain a relationship with a Hindu woman. This itself is a clear manifestation of bias and malicious intent towards the victim's religion. By concealing his true identity, he exploited her trust, targeting her under false pretences. This indicates a premeditated intent to manipulate her based on her religious background. In cases like these, the tactic of adopting a false Hindu identity to manipulate and "ensnare" a Hindu individual is not just an act of personal betrayal but can also be interpreted as an expression of disdain or disregard for Hinduism and its customs. This reflects a deeper animosity towards Hindus and their beliefs. Secondly, the accused was in a live-in relationship with the victim under the false Hindu identity he had adopted. During their stay in Nainital in August 2021, a dispute arose after he saw a message from her former partner on her mobile phone. The altercation escalated, and he strangled her to death in the hotel room. The extreme and disproportionate violence inflicted over a minor disagreement demonstrates that the Muslim perpetrator had harboured deep-seated animosity towards the victim, driven by religious bias or hatred. There is a well-documented precedent where hostility towards the Hindu community has played a significant role in similar violent incidents. These acts are rarely isolated instances of violence but rather stem from entrenched religious intolerance and animosity, fitting into a broader pattern of anti-Hindu hatred. Members of the Muslim community often view Hindu girls as not mere individuals, but as symbolic representatives of their community, a community that must be degraded, violated, and humiliated through its women. This was not opportunistic criminality; it is communal hatred expressed through gendered violence. The combination of deception regarding his identity and the subsequent fatal assault reflected this religious animosity. In conclusion, the accused’s decision to assume a false religious identity in order to enter and sustain an intimate relationship, followed by the act of strangulation over a minor issue, demonstrates religious animosity. Since the accused's actions had religious motivations, this case has been added to the tracker. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim's ordeal began. The earliest date mentioned is 14 August 2021, when they went to Nainital. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began and not when it was reported, we have considered the date of the incident as 14 August 2021, though the media report emerged later.