Love Jihad and systematic targeting of Hindu children: Ground report from UP's Balrampur district along Nepal border

Several recent reports have shown that demography is changing rapidly along India’s border with Nepal. The number of mosques and madarsas is constantly increasing along the border. From August 20 to 27, 2022, an OpIndia team visited several areas in Nepal bordering India to observe the ground situation. What follows here is the eleventh episode of the series of reports documenting the facts noticed by the OpIndia team.

In our earlier reports, we highlighted how mazars and mosques have mushroomed in Uttar Pradesh’s Balrampur district along the route heading to the Jarwa side of the Nepal border. We also reported on how the menace of ‘love jihad’ or ‘grooming jihad’ has plagued Nepal as a result of the growing Muslim population in the land of mountains.

The situation is similar across the border in the Uttar Pradesh district of Balrampur. Cases of love jihad and the systematic targeting of young and innocent Hindu children by Islamists have become more rampant in this region over the years.

There is no such thing as a distinct caste (read Tharu tribe report here) or community suffering as a result of demographic imbalance in Balrampur district, which borders Nepal. Those who live in border areas must deal with constantly shifting demographic shifts. Not only is the illegal encroachment of public spaces in border areas to build mosques, mazars, and madarsas a major issue, but the people who live here must also cope with issues such as the persecution of Hindu children and love jihad, wherein vulnerable Hindu native women are targeted by Muslim men, lured and brainwashed, forcefully converted to Islam and married off.

Hindu children threatened with circumcision

According to the complaint copy received by OpIndia, in April 2022, one Mulla Jameel, who lived in the Jarwa district along Nepal’s border, enticed a Hindu woman working in his house. After that, Mulla went away with the woman and her four children somewhere.

According to the police complaint, Mulla Jameel wanted the lady (complainant’s wife), two daughters, and two sons to convert to Islam. The complaint also claimed that all of the victim’s minor children were kept in a village near Tulsipur market at the home of the accused, Sagir Maulana.

The victim stated in the same complaint copy that the accused Sagir Maulana and Mulla Jameel had threatened to circumcise their children. According to the evidence received, these children were also taught Urdu in the madarsa, and their mothers’ names were likewise Islamised alongside those of the children. The victim is a resident of Halora village in the border area.

Ali marries Hindu girl in a temple, punishes her for not accepting Islam

In another case, a female from Varanasi filed a police complaint alleging harassment after marrying Mubarak Ali, a resident of Pachpedwa near the Nepal border. In a complaint to Varanasi Police and the Chief Minister, the victim stated that Mubarak Ali, who met via an online app, travelled to Kashi with his family, married her in a Hindu temple according to Hindu customs, and brought her home with him. Everything was fine till that point, however, the complexities began after that.

According to the victim, Mubarak Ali first expressed faith in all religions but changed his stance once she went to his house in the Nepal border village of Khakhadei. He began tormenting her every day. His family members never objected.

Mubarak Ali marries Hindu girl in a temple

The victim told OpIndia that when she gave birth to a daughter, her husband Mubarak began calling her Fatima and their daughter Amina. The distressed Hindu woman also revealed that Mubarak Ali had extorted a large sum of money from her and her mother under the pretext of starting his business.

The woman sobbed as she told us that even if she accidentally took the name of any Hindu god, Ali would torture her. She added that Ali threw her and her child out of the house when she refused to convert to Islam. The destitute woman is now staying at her parents’ house along with her daughter.

The victim also claimed that the police are yet to take any action on her complaint.

Demographic imbalance along the Nepal border and its impact

Pawan Shukla, the public prosecutor of POCSO cases in Balrampur district court, revealed to OpIndia that the Muslim population in the area has increased dramatically in recent years. Pawan Shukla further stated that as a result of this demographic imbalance, the cases of Love Jihad have also become rampant with many vulnerable Hindu girls being lured and thereafter molested and tortured.

To back up his claim, the public prosecutor cited the case of a Hindu family in the Tulsipur police station area of the border area, describing how their minor daughter was trapped by an elderly Muslim man a few years ago, and how the victim’s family is still fighting for justice.

The POCSO Act, according to Pawan Shukla, is particularly effective in such cases if both the witness and the victim stand by their testimony. In the instance of the Tulsipur love jihad, he stated that the girl’s statement had been recorded and that it is expected that the accused, who is currently in jail, will be punished.

The first report in this series can be read here in Hindi: कभी था हिंदू बहुल गाँव, अब स्वस्तिक चिह्न वाले घर पर 786 का निशान: भारत के उस पार भी डेमोग्राफी चेंज, नेपाल में घुसते ही मस्जिद, मदरसा और इस्लाम – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Demographic change hits other side of the border too, Mosques and Madarasas mushroom in former Hindu dominated areas in Nepal: Ground report

The second report in this series can be read here in Hindi: घरों पर चाँद-तारे वाले हरे झंडे, मस्जिद-मदरसे, कारोबार में भी दखल: मुस्लिम आबादी बढ़ने के साथ ही नेपाल में कपिलवस्तु के ‘कृष्णा नगर’ पर गाढ़ा हुआ इस्लामी रंग – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Islamic flags flying atop houses and mosques, madarsas influencing businesses: The creeping Islamisation of Nepal’s Krishnanagar

The third report in this series can be read here in Hindi: नेपाल में लव जिहाद: बढ़ती मुस्लिम आबादी और नेपाली लड़कियों से निकाह के खेल में ‘दिल्ली कनेक्शन’, तस्कर-गिरोह भारतीय सीमा पर खतरा – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Rising cases of love jihad in Nepal and its Delhi connection, smuggling plaguing India’s border with Nepal: Ground report

The fourth report in this series can be read here in Hindi: बौद्ध आस्था के केंद्र हों या तालाब… हर जगह मजार: श्रावस्ती में घरों की छत पर लहरा रहे इस्लामी झंडे, OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Steady rise in mazars and madarsas adjoining Buddhist places of worship in UP’s Shravasti near Indo-Nepal border: Ground report

The fifth report in this series can be read here in Hindi: महाराणा प्रताप के साथ लड़ी थारू जनजाति बहुल गाँव में 3 मस्जिद, 1 मदरसा: भारत-नेपाल सीमा पर बढ़ती मुस्लिम आबादी का ये है ‘पैटर्न’ – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Rising number of mosques, madarsa along Indo-Nepal border: Ground report on Islamisation of village of Tharu tribe that fought along Maharana Pratap

The sixth report in this series can be read here in Hindi: बौद्ध-जैन मंदिरों के बीच दरगाह बनाई, जिस मजार को पुलिस ने किया ध्वस्त… वो फिर चकमकाई: नेपाल सीमा पर बढ़ती मुस्लिम आबादी – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Dargah and mazar built around Buddhist and Jain temple premises, illegal mazar once demolished surfaces again: UP’s Shravasti near Nepal border