Muslim youth pretends to be a Hindu, rapes tribal girl after she blocks him, kills and mutilates her body
Gumla, Jharkhand, India 
27 November, 2023
Case Summary
In the Gumla district of Jharkhand, a tribal girl named Archana Kandulna was raped, murdered and then her body was chopped into three pieces by the accused identified as Ehsan Mirdaha who reportedly posed as Badal to lure her. The accused was arrested on December 9, 2023 and imprisoned. The 21-year-old victim was a resident of Jaipur village under Rania police station limits and worked in Pune, however, she had recently returned to her village. Accused Ehsan told the police that he had found several pictures on the victim’s mobile phone which she was allegedly using to blackmail him. She had also blocked his number. This enraged him and he called her to a local fair (mela) in Fori village on November 28. The accused reportedly managed to take Archana in confidence who then took her clothes off after Ehsan asked her to. He raped her, then attacked the victim with a sharp object (Tangi or axe) and severed her hands. The accused then beheaded the victim and disposed of her torso in one well and head in another. The victim was identified with an Aadhaar card recovered near her mutilated body found in the well. The police seized the deceased’s bag and clothes, a severed hand, the Tangi (axe) used in the murder, three mobile phones, and a bike, based on information disclosed by accused Esan.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
When a non-Hindu man pretends to be a Hindu to deceive a Hindu woman into a relationship, the act is seen as triggered by malafide intentions. In some cases, the woman eventually accepts the man’s original religious identity and converts after the man’s identity is revealed. These cases could be argued as cases of religious brainwashing and a result of the pressure a woman feels after getting into a relationship with a man. The woman, it can be argued, also changed her religious identity because of the stigma she believes she might face if she chooses to walk out of a deceptive relationship. However, for the purpose of documenting hate crimes, the cases in this subcategory are limited to those where there is explicit violence aimed at religious conversion against the wishes of the victim (force-feeding beef, blackmailing with intimate videos, rape on refusal to convert, etc), or if the woman herself complains of the man’s religious deception. In such cases, it is established that the deception of the non-Hindu man had a specific aim of religious conversion or targeting of the victim due to her Hindu religious identity, therefore, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. In this case, a non-Hindu man concealed his religious identity and pretended to be a Hindu to lure a Hindu woman. Since the religious motive of the crime is evident from the fact that the man pretended to be a Hindu to trap a Hindu woman, this case has been documented as a hate crime.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
1
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 1
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Perpetrator held guilty by court
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
