Muslim man in Mumbai forcefully converts Hindu woman to Islam, assaults her and force feeds her beef. Later strangulates her to death
Dharavi, Maharashtra, India 
4 January, 2023
Case Summary
The Mumbai Police arrested a 29-year-old man in connection with the alleged murder of his wife. The accused, identified as Rehan Khan, was arrested after his 24-year-old wife, Yashodha Khateek, was found hanging from a ceiling rod at their residence in Dharavi. Rehan was taken into custody after the autopsy of the deceased’s body showed that she had died of asphyxia. Yashodha had eloped with Rehan Khan in 2018, got married and shifted to Mumbai. Yashoda’s family alleged that Khan forced her to convert to Islam and also forcibly changed her name to Rubina. Furthermore, Rehan assaulted Yashodha under the influence of alcohol and forced her to consume meat.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
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. In this case, there is one distinct component which proves that the offence was committed coupled with a bias hence this case has been classified as a religious hate crime.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
1
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
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
