Married Muslim boss rapes Hindu woman employee and forcefully marries her. Forces her follow Islamic practices by blackmailing her with her nude pictures
Pune, Maharashtra, India 
19 August, 2023
Case Summary
A 26-year-old Hindu girl from the Ambejogai region of Beed district, Maharashtra was trapped in a relationship, raped, assaulted, and then forced to marry the accused identified as Amir Tamboli from the Pune district. The Ambejogai Police filed an FIR against Amir Tamboli and his associates identified as Nandini Banerjee, Adv Arshad Nehal, and Asif who helped the primary accused convert the girl. Amir and Nandini were arrested. The victim girl was also looted for money, asked to make nude video calls, and forced to take Islamic education post-conversion. In 2021, the girl applied for a job using an online platform named ‘Indeed.com’. She was then called for a job interview by Reverenc Technologies Pvt Ltd. The interview was conducted by accused Amir Tamboli and she was later offered a job in Pune by his associate, co-accused Nandini Banerjee. The girl began working from home initially for a fashion venture named ‘Purfle Fashion-E-commerce women’s shopping platform’ during which Nandini would guide her over her assignments. She would deceptively ask her about her personal details. Later Amir began talking to the victim over WhatsApp, voice and video calls. In September 2021, he called her to his Pune office. Over time, Amir cancelled the victim's Work From Home job profile and asked her to join the office in Pune. During her meeting at the office, the accused gave the victim drugs under the guise of Unani medicines which made her feel drowsy and heavy-headed. Tamboli and Nandini started praising Islam and influencing her to start following the religion. They also demeaned Hinduism and made her believe that Islam was the greatest of all. Further, Amir gave her the Kalma and asked her to read it and recite it to him. One day post office hours, Amir proposed marriage to the victim and proceeded to rape her. He said ‘Qubool Hai’ thrice and forced the victim to say it to affirm their marriage. When the girl tried complaining to Nandini, she was told that there was nothing to worry about and that she was now married. The accused Tamboli asked the victim girl to inform her parents in Ambejogai about her relationship with him. On refusal, she was physically assaulted by him. In March 2022, Amir took the girl to his home and introduced her to his first wife and his children. The victim girl was then officially named Khadija post-marriage. Her legal documents were changed and a new mobile SIM card was issued to her. In May 2023, the girl went to her home in Ambejogai where her parents asked her to quit Islam and come back to Hinduism. When the girl revealed this to the accused, he forced her to make a video confessing that she had now converted her religion to Islam. Further, Nandini started blackmailing the girl and also showed her a derogatory video in which the latter could be seen nude. Fearful of the video being leaked, the victim girl gave them Rs 6 lakhs. She later clarified that the derogatory videos in which she is seen nude were recorded by Tamboli after feeding her medicines.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
Three distinct elements in this particular case demonstrate that the Muslim perpetrator committed the crime while harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith. The first factor is that the accused forced the victim to convert to Islam before marriage and compelled her to follow Islamic religious practices. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. The relationship in such cases is mostly consensual and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. In such cases, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Niqah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The second component in this case which makes it worthy of being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime is that the Muslim perpetrator blackmailed the Hindu victim to convert to Islam. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman is blackmailed to convert her religion, owing to her religious identity of being a Hindu. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim, however, there could be cases where the relationship is not consensual and the non-Hindu man starts blackmailing a Hindu woman to convert her religion. In these cases, it is often seen that the Hindu woman is blackmailed with intimate photos and/or videos, threats of harm to her or her family, threats of violence etc. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Thirdly, the Muslim perpetrator physically assaulted the Hindu victim when she refused to accede to his conversion demands. When Hindu women are in a relationship with non-Hindu men, there are cases where the woman faces threats or assault after she refuses to convert and change her religious identity owing to pressure/force by the non-Hindu man. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu man known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts pressurizing the Hindu woman to convert to Islam and upon her refusal, assaults or threatens the victim. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Cases where the Hindu woman converts to Islam and does not file a complaint about the force or threat, are not considered a part of the hate tracker, even though, it may be argued that the woman was brainwashed or threatened to convert to Islam. Further, the accused denigrated Hinduism and forced her to read Kalma, and follow Islamic religious practices making it evident in itself that the crime was committed with the specific intent of conversion and the motivation was the perpetrator's animosity against Hinduism. Both these components make it evident that the victim was specifically targeted owing to her religious identity. Since this case meets three specific components of religiously motivated hate crimes against Hindu women, this case has been documented here.
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
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
