Minor Hindu girl abducted by Muslim youth in Haldwani, Uttarakhand

Case ID : ea7aaef | Location : Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 7 July, 2023

Case ID : ea7aaef

Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India

7 July, 2023

Minor Hindu girl abducted by Muslim youth in Haldwani, Uttarakhand

Undecided cases

Abduction of minor

Case Summary

From Haldwani in Nainital district, a Muslim youth named Saif kidnapped a minor Hindu girl. The victim's father said in his complaint that Saif had kidnapped his daughter to avenge an old rivalry and was worried that he would convert her to Islam. Police registered a case under sections 363 and 366 of the IPC . Bajrang Dal had demanded the immediate arrest of the accused. Finally, the police arrested Saif. The police are proceeding with further legal action in the matter. Bajrang Dal’s district convenor, Joginder Rana Jogi, said that the locality from which the Hindu girl was abducted is a Muslim-majority area.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In this case, a minor Hindu girl was abducted by a Muslim man. This could potentially be a crime motivated by religious profiling, as it has been observed that in many cases, Muslim perpetrators target Hindu women and minor girls due to inherent animosity towards Hindus. Hindu women and girls are very vulnerable to crimes like rape and sexual assault at the hands of Muslim men. However, it is also possible that the crime was one of opportunity, where the Hindu girl was simply accessible to the Muslim perpetrator. Meanwhile, it could also be argued that for a Muslim perpetrator, a Muslim girl would likely be more accessible than a Hindu girl. The fact that the perpetrator specifically targeted the Hindu girl could suggest religious profiling of the victim. Nevertheless, this remains speculative, as the case details provide no clear indication of religious motivations. Furthermore, neither the victim nor her family made any statements suggesting a religious motive behind the crime. For this reason, this case has been added to the 'Undecided' database. If further information emerges that hints towards a religious motivation behind this crime, then it would be reclassified and included under the Hate Crime database.