Muslim man attempt to convert minor Hindu girl by luring her with gold chain in Mumbai, sexually assaulted her and threaten to shoot her when she refuses to wear burqa
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 
11 June, 2023
Case Summary
Two men, Munnawar Mansoori and Azeem Mansoori, were arrested in Mumbai on June 16 for sexually harassing and threatening a 13-year-old girl to convert to Islam. The incident occurred on June 12 when the accused took the girl to a building terrace and tried to lure her to convert. They coerced her to wear a burqa and elope with one of them, offering her gold ornaments. When she refused, the accused molested and sexually assaulted her, and threatened to shoot her using a fake pistol. The victim's mother said that Munnawar and Azeem Mansoori had been following her daughter since June 1 and hurling obscene slurs. After the incident, the girl's mother filed a complaint against both the accused, and they were arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This particular case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under the core category of Predatory Proselytisation because there is a distinct component in this case, which essentially involves attempting to convert a minor Hindu girl to Islam by inducement and thereafter harassing and threatening her for the same. Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases therefore are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity forms the very heart of the crime itself. As in this instance, where the Muslim men attempted to entice the Hindu girl with a gold chain, luring men or women from lower social classes with material temptations is a classic tactic used by such perpetrators to force their victims to abandon their stated religion and accept a foreign one. Since exploiting vulnerabilities for the explicit purpose of conversion is purely based on animosity towards the victim's faith, this case has been categorised under this sub-category in the hate tracker. The second sub-category under predatory proselytisation relevant in this case is 'Attempting to convert by harassment/threat' 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. Another important element of the crime in this case is the grooming of a minor by sexual assault and the subsequent conversion. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. In this case, the Hindu victim's mother testified that the Muslim youths employed intimidatory tactics like forcing the victim to perform Islamic practises like wearing a burqa to convert her to Islam. She was also abused and beaten for choosing to practice her professed religion. The details of the case make it evident that the crime was perpetrated with a specific intention to alienate the victims from their Hindu identity, while also harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith, hence this case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under Predatory Proselytisation.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 1
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
