Hindu girl brainwashed to convert to Islam and follow Islamic principles

Case ID : ea7aae6 | Location : Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 6 July, 2023

Case ID : ea7aae6

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

6 July, 2023

Hindu girl brainwashed to convert to Islam and follow Islamic principles

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Pattern of targeting Hindus

Case Summary

The father of a Hindu girl working in a private company in Sector 58 of Noida lodged a complaint at Khoda police station. In this complaint, he said that his daughter started offering Namaz and following Islamic customs for the last 5-6 months. She started calling herself a Muslim and advising the rest of the family members to accept Islam. Further, she talked about making herself a human bomb. Ghaziabad Police of Uttar Pradesh arrested 3 people while exposing the conversion racket. Their names are Mohammad Rahil, Musheer and Abdullah Ahmed. Rahil and Abdullah were Hindus who later converted to Islam. Rahul Aggarwal, who later became Mohammad Rahil told the police that he had taught Islamic customs to the complainant's daughter online. He had also married the victim online and brought her to the stage of conversion. Police investigation further revealed that Rahil had also married the sister-in-law of a man named Saurabh Khurana, who turned out to be Abdullah Ahmed. Mohammad Musheer, who taught tuition in the mosque, helped Abdullah and Rahil in running the conversion racket. 30-year-old Musheer is accused of tricking students into converting to Islam. Rahil used to lure young girls into the trap of love and then brainwash them to accept Islam. It was also revealed from the chats received from Rahil's phone that he used to create closeness with non-Muslims by using his former Hindu name. Some objectionable videos of the complainant's daughter were also recovered from his phone. The police have arrested all three accused and sent them to jail. Till the time this report was published, information of 7 people including boys and girls having been converted by this network had been received.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This particular case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under the category- 'Predatory Proselytisation'. To narrow down the search further we have chosen the sub-category 'Proselytisation by brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination' under this core category. Further, based on case details, the tertiary categories selected here are- Pattern of targeting Hindus. 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 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 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 indoctrinated 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 accused, Mohammad Rahil exploited his previous Hindu identity to build trust, manipulated the girl through online interactions, and subtly introduced Islamic practices before coercing the victim into conversion and marriage. The father of the Hindi victim testified that his daughter started offering Namaz and following Islamic customs. She also started calling herself a Muslim and advising the rest of the family members to accept Islam. The father, further, confirmed that the accused was successful in brainwashing his daughter to the extent that she not only started practising Islamic principles but also began pestering her family members to do the same. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victim and the intention of the accused to disenfranchise him from it, the case has been categorised under this category. It is important to highlight here that this case also highlights a pattern of targeting Hindus as the perpetrator was clearly religiously profiling his victims before targeting them. When religious profiling of victims is involved, it is evident that the perpetrator was targeting these individuals owing to their religious identity and because of his prejudice and animosity towards Hindus. Therefore, this is being added as a religiously motivated hate crime.