Muslim classmate forces Hindu friend to convert to Islam and marry her brother who in turn coerces victim to engage in physical relations by claiming that Islam is superior
Doiwala, Uttarakhand, India 
13 June, 2023
Case Summary
In Dehradun's Doiwala region, a case involving forced conversion and coerced marriage of a young woman has surfaced. The accused individuals, Armaan Ansari and his sister Tamanna, have been charged under various sections, including the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act. Armaan Ansari has been detained by the police for interrogation. The victim reported that both the sister and mother of the accused pressured her to convert her religion and marry Armaan. Additionally, they coerced her into engaging in physical relations by claiming that Islam was superior. The victim and Tamanna were classmates, which led to their friendship, and eventually, the victim's introduction to Armaan Ansari. The victim stated that Armaan began pressuring her for intimacy soon after their acquaintance, and subsequently, pressured her for conversion and marriage, with his family involved in these actions.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
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 has 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, forceful circumcision etc. 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 to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted 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. In this case, the Hindu victim herself testified that she was forced to embrace Islam by her Muslim classmate. The accused used intimidation and harassment as the mode to pressure her into conversion. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victim and the intention of the accused to disenfranchise her from it, the case has been categorised as a hate crime.
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 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
