Muslim man pretends to be a Hindu and marries Hindu woman, gang-rapes her once his real identity is revealed
Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, India 
20 June, 2023
Case Summary
In Raebareli district of Uttar Pradesh, the police have filed an FIR against a man known as Jameel for raping a Hindu woman. Jameel had initially posed as a Hindu named Shailendra to ensnare the woman in a relationship, subsequently coercing her into marriage. After their marriage, Jameel revealed his true identity, shocking the woman. Despite her objections, she was compelled to sign the marriage documents. Jameel then confined the woman in an undisclosed location where he and his associates allegedly subjected her to sexual assault for profit. The woman managed to escape and reported the ordeal to her family, prompting her to file a police complaint. CO Vandana Singh confirmed the incident and stated that the police are actively seeking the accused, who also forced the woman to convert her religion. Investigations into the case are ongoing.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
In this case, there are two distinct components which prove that the offence was committed coupled with a religious bias hence this case has been classified as a religious hate crime. The first factor is that the accused actively hid his religious identity and pretended to be a Hindu and marry her as per Hindu traditions to deceive the Hindu woman. 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 malafide 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 second component in this case which makes the religious motive of the crime more apparent is that the Muslim accused married the Hindu woman as per Hindi custom to mislead her into believing that he was a Hindu, however, when his identity was revealed, he began pressuring her to marry him as per Islamic rituals and also inflicted physical torture for refusing to accede to his demands of conversion. In such cases, a non-Hindu man marries a Hindu woman and the force/pressure to convert to Islam begins after marriage. In such cases, the marriage is consensual in most cases and often, there is no element of the man hiding his religious identity. The marriage could be under the Special Marriages Act where neither parties are required to convert their religion for the marriage to be considered legitimate. While the victim in such cases enters matrimony assuming that religious identity is not a barrier, the non-Hindu man starts to pressure the woman to convert to Islam after marriage. In such cases, there is application of force by the perpetrator, including, denial of the woman’s religious rights. Some of the means by which the woman is forced/pressured to convert include force-feeding beef, forced to read the Kalma, forced to wear a hijab, forced for Halala, etc. There are several instances where after marriage, the woman voluntarily converts to Islam. Such cases are often argued to be a result of religious brainwashing, however, for the purpose of documenting religiously motivated hate crimes, in the absence of the victim complaining of forced conversion, such cases do not form a part of the database.
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 registered
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
