Muslim woman's uncle kills a Hindu man after the duo marry eachother against his will

Case ID : e97a6c5 | Location : Kodarma, Jharkhand, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 13 December, 2023

Case ID : e97a6c5

Kodarma, Jharkhand, India

13 December, 2023

Muslim woman's uncle kills a Hindu man after the duo marry eachother against his will

Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women

Killed by non-Hindu partner's family

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In the Kodarma region of Jharkhand, an FIR was filed against an individual named Suleman for murdering a Hindu man, Ghanashyam Das, over his marriage to Suleman's niece, Sultana. The FIR was registered on December 14, 2023, but no action was taken. Sultana and Das were in love, and despite the objections from Suleman, they got married. However, ten months later, Das was poisoned by Suleman, who disapproved of the interfaith marriage. Sultana, the widow, is pleading with the police for justice for her murdered husband.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

What makes this case worthy of being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime is that the Hindu youth was murdered by the family of the Muslim woman simply for his religious identity. Here the man, a Hindu, had married a Muslim woman. He was killed because the family of the Muslim partner disapproved of their relationship. Such disapproval mostly stems from the difference in the religious identity of the couple. According to Islamic law, a marriage is not deemed lawful until the non-Muslim spouse agrees to convert to Islam. The Muslim woman's family views this as the primary source of disapproval, and it is frequently observed that this disapproval results in the Muslim partner's family either assaulting or killing the non-Muslim partner. For the record, when Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced/pressured to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the family of the non-Hindu partner murders the victim. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman and her family start forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman’s family. The pressure could involve threats. The trigger to murdering the Hindu man in these cases is his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is murdered by the family of the non-Hindu woman simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the murder is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes.