Much has been written about Grooming Jihad (Love Jihad), a phenomenon involving the forced conversions of Hindu women to Islam. Even though the secular camp or the leftists have always dismissed the occurrence of such cases as a figment of the ‘right-wing imagination’, these are real and have, over time, gained a considerable foothold across many states in the country.
Several victims of Grooming Jihad have come forward with their stories. Their horrifying experiences include being deceived into a relationship or marriage by a Muslim boy disguised under a Hindu name, who only revealed later that he is a Muslim and forced the woman to convert. The pressurising tactics mostly include threatening to make viral their intimate photographs and videos, isolating the victim from her family, boy’s family members ganging up against the woman, beatings or threatening them with physical assault, force-feeding beef, insulting Hinduism and Hindus etc.
Though this phenomenon is long-established and extremely deep-seated, the year 2020 has seen many states not only acknowledging the occurrences but also enacting laws to curb the menace of Grooming Jihad. This includes many BJP ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
We at OpIndia have closely followed and reported many Grooming Jihad cases in the past. As the year comes to a close, let us look back at a few of the most gruesome Grooming Jihad cases of 2020.
Case 1: Ajmal Hussain Lashkar poses as Ashish Dubey to befriend, then rape minor girl and aunt
A 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped multiple times by one Ajmal Hussain Lashkar (26) as he blackmailed her with a sex-tape of her aunt on January 14, 2020. The accused also threatened to make the video public if the teenager did not give in to his demands. Mumbai Police had arrested Ajmal after the minor victim allegedly became pregnant. It was reported that Ajmal Hussain had befriended the aunt and her niece posing as one ‘Ashish Dubey’ and later raped the woman after promising to marry her and made obscene videos of her without her knowledge.
Ajmal, thereafter, allegedly used this recording to blackmail and rape the teenage niece multiple times until she got pregnant.
Case 2: In another ‘Grooming Jihad’ case, TikTok celeb murdered or turning down the proposal of ‘nikah’
A TikTok celebrity named Shivani, from Rohtak, Haryana, was brutally murdered in cold blood for turning down the proposal of ‘nikah’ by her friend and neighbour Arif on June 29. After allegedly killing her he hid Shivani’s dead body in her own beauty parlour in TDI City in Kundli, Haryana. Shivani’s family alleged unrequited love and obsession as the motive of the crime.
According to reports, when Shivani’s another friend and co-worker, Neeraj, opened the salon on June 28th morning, he smelt something unpleasant. On searching, he found Shivani’s dead body hidden inside a bed in one room.
Case 3: Another horrific tale from Meerut
At the end of the month of July, a story of the mummified and broken skeletons of one Priya and her young daughter had caused a shockwave across the nation. On July 26, disturbing videos had emerged showing how one Shamshad had buried the corpses of the mother-daughter duo in his own house.
The Muslim youth from Meerut had posed as Amit Gurjar to befriend the Hindu girl Priya. The Meerut police dug up Shamshad’s house to recovers decomposed bodies of Priya and her child tied and dumped in a plastic bag. Shamshad had allegedly killed the duo after his identity was revealed and hid the corpse in his own house.
Case 4: Sordid tale of a Hindu widow who was lured by Nizamuddin alias Goldie
On August 22 it was reported how a 25-year-old Hindu widow was targetted by a Muslim man named Nizamuddin, who concealed his identity to lure her to convert her religion to Islam before marrying and impregnating her. When the woman got to know that the man, who identified himself as Goldie, was a Muslim she resented.
Nizamuddin alias Goldie then started torturing her. He once stabbed her on the thigh and even tried to strangulate her. Goldie, along with his parents, threw the pregnant woman out of the house. The Hindu woman approached the police to file a complaint against her husband Nizamuddin and his family, in which she accused him of cheating.
Case 5: Horrifying case of Lakhimpur Kheri’s 18-year-old Dalit girl
Then another horrifying case of Lakhimpur Kheri’s 18-year-old Dalit girl emerged in the month of August. Her mutilated body was found dumped near a dried-up pond by one Dilshad. We had reported how Mohd Dilshad, who worked at a tailor shop where the girl used to get her clothes stitched, first befriended the 18-year-old Dalit girl. After he learnt that the girl’s family is planning her wedding, Dilshad forced the girl to change her religion and marry him instead. When the girl refused, Dilshad stalked her, brutally raped and murdered her with a sharp weapon, then dumped her mutilated body and fled.
Case 6: Another case of Grooming Jihad from Kanpur
The month of August witnessed another gruesome case of purported Grooming Jihad which OpIndia had reported extensively. This case was reported from Kanpur’s Govind Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, where a Muslim youth named Asif Shah alias Nafiz trapped an 18-year-old Hindu girl named Muskaan, brainwashed her with the help of occult practices, physically abused her, threatened and intimidated her to convert into Islam and marry him.
OpIndia had then spoken to Muskaan’s mother– Mamata Tiwari, Mamata’s employer – Deepti Tiwari and the Bajrang Dal activist – Ramji Tiwari, with whose help the distressed Hindu family recused their daughter on August 28.
Narrating the ordeal, the victim’s family confirmed that Muskaan had to withstand extreme mental and physical torture in Asif’s house. In fact, when she returned to her parents her mental condition was such that for a few days she did not even recognise her own family members. People familiar to the case had called it a typical case of ‘Grooming Jihad’ which has been on the rise in Uttar Pradesh.
Case 7: Shibu Ali becomes Sachin to lure victim, forces her to eat beef, engage in sexual activities with a cleric
In yet another case which came to the fore on September 13, the victim hailing from Kanpur had taken to social media to narrate her ordeal. In the viral video, the victim confessed that one Muslim youth named Shibu Ali befriended her posing as a Hindu named Sachin. The girl said that when his identity was revealed, he started torturing her. Shibu beat her up and pressurised her to convert to Islam.
He also forced her to consume beef, which is a sin according to Hindu customs and to engage in sexual activities with a cleric. The victim narrated how Shibu physically assaulted her when she refrained from doing what she was asked to. Tired of all this, the girl one day escaped and came back to her parents. On August 14, Shibu allegedly again called up the victim and pressurised her to give in to his demands. When she objected, Shibu attacked the victim with a knife.
Case 8: Congress leader engages in Grooming Jihad
In yet another case of Grooming Jihad, a Congress leader Sameer Khan aka Sikander hid his identity to sexually exploit a minor girl in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district. The police confirmed that the Congress MP, arrested for the rape of a minor, used to click objectionable pictures and make videos of women and post it on porn websites. The Congress leader also used these pictures and videos to blackmail the victims for sexual favours and money.
It was reported that Sameer Khan had posed as Sameer Singh to befriend the minor on Facebook. He then called her to his farmhouse, where he had raped her and clicked objectionable pictures of her. The Congress leader, since the last three years, has been using the pictures to blackmail the girl and sexually exploit her. The victim, at last, approached the police and opened up against the Congress leader.
Case 9: The horrific Sonbhadra case
The horrific Sonbhadra case had sent a shockwave across the nation. We had reported how a 23-year-old Hindu woman has been brutally murdered by two Muslim youth after she refused to convert to Islam after marriage.
The police had nabbed the main accused Ejaz Ahmed and his accomplice Shoaib Akhtar, after the beheaded body of the Hindu girl Priya was recovered from the forest area near Preet Nagar under the Chopan police station area on September 21 (Monday).
OpIndia had learnt that prime accused Ejaz Ahmed, who was a part of an organised syndicate working to lure Hindu girls into marriages and forced conversions in various parts of Uttar Pradesh, was also eying at the girl’s fathers property. He informed us that after marriage, which was not solemnised as per law, instead was a just a notary marriage, the youth had started creating pressure on Priya to get her father to transfer the property in her name.
The girl succumbing to the pressure requested her impoverished father, who does menial jobs at an eatery in the locality for a living, to transfer his house- his only asset in her name, to which the father had firmly refused. Seeing his effort failing, Ejaz started pressuring her to convert to Islam if she wanted to be excepted in his family. Priya however, had refused to convert to Islam. Miffed by his failing attempts, Ejaz hatched the conspiracy of killing Priya.
Case 10: The case of Nikita Tomar, who was shot dead by her stalker in broad daylight
In a terrifying case of Grooming Jihad, which even gained a lot of media attention, a Hindu girl Nikita Tomar was shot dead in full public view by two men outside the Aggarwal college in Ballabgarh, Faridabad. Her family had alleged that he was forcing her to convert to Islam and marry him.
The shocking incident was caught on camera, visuals of which had gone instantly viral in the aftermath of the brutal killing. Touseef and his accomplice Rehan were arrested by the police.
These 10 cases mentioned above are only a few of the many such incidents which have occurred in the past year. There are many more cases which have been reported and many, many more which might have transpired in the remote areas of the country but could not make it’s way to the media.