Three Muslim youths befriend a Hindu youth; brainwash him against Hinduism by talking about Islamic supremacy, convert him into Islam
Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
30 June, 2023
Case Summary
The Uttar Pradesh ATS apprehended Nazim Hasan, also known as Rashid, along with Azhar Malik and Mohammad Sadiq in Saharanpur for allegedly enticing a Hindu youth to convert to Islam. The arrests occurred on July 1, 2023. The accused came in contact with the Hindu victim Gaurav, through his father. The trio, along with Reshma, orchestrated a scheme from Saharanpur to Bengaluru, promising marriage, and employment, and portraying Islam as superior. Reshma, through online games, played a role in luring the youth into conversion. The investigation began following a tip-off about illegal conversion. Nazim disclosed that he met the youth's family and gradually initiated the youth into Islamic teachings. Hasan also persuaded Gaurav and taught him to read namaz, observe a fast, and invite him to the madrassa by portraying Islam as the world’s best religion and demonstrating that all other religions are wrong. As part of this conversion modus operandi, a girl named Reshma from Bengaluru contacted Gaurav through Hasan. She contacted him through an online game and offered to marry him, provided he converted to Islam. The youth was ultimately convinced to convert after financial support from Mohammad Sadiq and Azhar Malik. The accused face charges under various sections of the IPC and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act 2020.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
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. In this case, the Muslim perpetrators used various sorts of inducements to lure the Hindu victim to renounce his professed faith and accept Islam. The victim was offered money as an inducement for conversion. Additionally, the Muslim accused used honey trapping as a recruitment tool, exploiting romantic relationships to lure the Hindu victim into their ideology and practices. The accused Muslim woman made fake promises of marriage to lure the Hindu victim into acceding to the conversion demands. Honey trapping as a means to induce someone to convert to a different religion or belief system is a highly manipulative and unethical tactic and a sort of harassment that is rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and is therefore documented as a religiously motivated hate crime in this Hindu hate tracker under the sub-category 'conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement.' The other sub-category under Predatory Proselytisation which is relevant here is 'attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism'. In several cases, Hindus are converted or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then, the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down etc begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. It is evident from the details of the case that the accused denigrated Hinduism and advocated Islamic supremacy with the sole intention of disfranchising the Hindu victim from his faith. This is obviously done when the offender harbours deep disdain for the victim's professed religion and has a blatant desire for the Hindu victim to adopt his professed religion. The case has been classified as a hate crime since the victim's religious beliefs and the desire to strip her of her religious rights serve as the driving force behind the crime. The other thread in the case is that of grooming and brainwashing. 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.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 2
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 2
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
