Hindu woman lured away by Muslim man, victim's father says daughter was kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam

Case ID : f66451a | Location : Mangalore, Karnataka, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 29 June, 2024

Case ID : f66451a

Mangalore, Karnataka, India

29 June, 2024

Hindu woman lured away by Muslim man, victim's father says daughter was kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam

Undecided cases

Case Summary

A 20-year-old Hindu woman, a BCA student at a prestigious private college in Mangaluru, was kidnapped by a Muslim man named Mohammad Ashfaq on 4th July 2024. A complaint was immediately filed at the Vidyanagar police station, and the woman was rescued from Ashfaq’s custody. According to the victim’s father, Vinod, even previously on 30th June 2024, the family had been in Kochi, Kerala, when Mohammad Ashfaq abducted his daughter and forcibly converted her to Islam. Ashfaq was already married and had a history of criminal cases. Vinod submitted a complaint to the Mangaluru Police Commissioner in relation to his daughter's abduction. Reports stated that the Hindu victim had been in contact with the accused and had been staying at the house of his relatives against the wishes of her parents. Under the pretext of reconciliation, Ashfaq arrived in Ullal and took her away, notifying both the family and the police that she had left with him willingly. Vinod remarked that, had Ashfaq been a good person, there would have been no difficulty. Following Vinod’s request for assistance, the police took his daughter to a counselling centre in Mangaluru. The police had registered an FIR, taken the woman away, and reported that she had left with Ashfaq of her own accord, thereby causing distress for both the family and the authorities. Sharan Kumar Pumpwell, a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, asserted that the Hindu community needed to remain vigilant against "Love Jihad". The term "Love Jihad" refers to a pattern in which Muslim men target Hindu women after religiously profiling them and luring them into romantic relationships and marriages, with the ultimate aim of conversion to Islam or sexual exploitation, all rooted in religious animosity. Sharan observed that such conversions of Hindu women under the guise of love and marriage had increased in the coastal region, and he stressed the urgent need for a robust law to address Love Jihad in the country.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In this case, the father of a 20-year-old Hindu woman filed a police complaint, describing how his daughter was lured and taken away by a Muslim man. He stated that the man kidnapped her and forcibly converted her to Islam, stating that the entire ordeal—from the purported abduction to the religious conversion—resulted from coercion and undue influence. At Hinduphobia Tracker, numerous incidents have been documented in which Hindu women and underage girls were approached by Muslim men, coerced into conversion, and then subjected to various forms of sexual exploitation. These cases reveal patterns of deep-seated religious prejudice, in which love and marriage are presented as tools for religious conversion. In such instances, these acts represent clear examples of religiously motivated crimes. With this broader context in mind, dismissing the father's statements would be unwise, given the recurring pattern of Hindu women and girls being targeted and exploited. However, it is equally important to acknowledge the autonomy of the woman involved in the present case. At 20 years of age, she is considered an adult under the law and entitled to make her own decisions about relationships and religious beliefs. As long as her choices are free from deception or coercion, she retains the right to choose her partner and faith. There is a possibility that she acted independently and of her own volition. Police authorities have since confirmed that she left with the man willingly, which complicates the narrative of faith-based targeting. Emotional distress and social stigma could influence the statements of the victim's father in such scenarios. At the Hinduphobia Tracker, incidents are categorised as religiously motivated hate crimes only after a careful evaluation of all evidence. In this situation, given that the woman is an adult and, so far, no proof of force or coercion has emerged, along with the absence of her own statement, the case remains in our 'Undecided' database. If any new information comes to light indicating that conversion and marriage were carried out under pressure, threat or coercion, we will re-evaluate the case and accordingly add it to our hate crime database.