On the 24th of June, another case of religious conversion through online games has come to light, this time from Rajasthan’s Sikar district. Reportedly, an Aligarh-based man Taiyyab Khan approached a married Hindu Woman from Sikar through the online game, Free Fire.
Reports add that the accused Taiyyab brainwashed the married woman to follow Islamic practices and pressured her to convert to Islam. Subsequently, the victim stopped performing Hindu rituals and refrained from applying Sindoor and bindi. Later, she left her in-law’s house and started living with her parents.
Apparently, she also bought gowns that looked like burqas and changed her name from Harshita to Haniya.
Religious conversion through online gaming
As per media reports, the incident took place in Rajasthan’s Sikar district, specifically at the Sadar police station. It is reported that the victim’s husband resides overseas, and in order to pass the time and alleviate boredom, she began playing an online game, Free Fire.
While playing the game, she became a member of a group named ‘Love Life’. From there, she got acquainted with Taiyyab Khan, who has a clothing shop in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Subsequently, they started chatting on Instagram where he constantly brainwashed her into embracing Islam.
After a few days, the woman left her in-laws’ house and started living with her parents.
Talking to Bhaskar, the victim Harshita shared that Taiyyab Khan used to threaten her to commit suicide if she did not accept Islam. She asserted that after gathering information about her family, Taaiyab tricked her into loving him and asked her to accept Islam and offer Namaz. Afterwards, he slowly started telling her about Islam.
When she said that she did not know Urdu and Arabic, he sent her online methods of reciting Namaz and Dua. This went on for several days. When she also started taking an interest, then she learned how to read Namaz and Dua. Resultantly, following his words, she bought gowns that looked like burqas. At the same time, she changed her name from Harshita to Haniya.
She further asserted that he brainwashed her and even took a photo of her Aadhaar card but declined to give a photo of his own Aadhaar card.
Harshita’s family was completely unaware of these happenings. But one day, his brother got suspicious when he saw a burqa among the clothes. When he had a conversation about this with the family, they came to note that she had also stopped applying bindi and sindoor.
Furthermore, she not only ceased visiting the temple but also displayed negligence toward her son. Subsequently, when her brother checked her mobile device, he discovered content relating to Islam. When the family tried to persuade her, she started quarreling with everyone and asserted to remain connected to Islam.
As per media reports, Harshita’s brother filed a Police complaint against Taiyyab Khan and his accomplice Sabir. As per a report in Bhaskar, Sikar SP Karan Sharma said, “A youth has given a complaint that his sister is in contact with a youth from Aligarh on social media who is tricking him to convert. Police will try to trace the suspected youth on the basis of mobile numbers.” Reports also claim that the accused used to operate seven different ids.
According to the police, they are actively tracing and conducting searches for the suspects based on their mobile numbers.
Ghaziabad online religious conversion through a gaming app
Earlier, a case of brainwashing of a 17-year-old boy from a Jain family was registered in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Apparently, he was also brainwashed through an online gaming app. The boy had even started visiting mosque to offer Namaz, 5 times a day.
When the family came to know about this, he confessed to converting to Islam after being influenced by fugitive Islamist extremist Zakir Naik.
Subsequently, the victim’s father lodged a case at the Kavi Nagar police station in Ghaziabad on charges of brainwashing and trying to forcefully convert his son to Islam. Afterward, the Ghaziabad police arrested the Maulvi and made several revelations in regard to this case of conversion through the gaming app.
It is claimed that the strings of this racket of fast-spreading forceful and lured conversion have been found connected to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, and Maharashtra.
In light of the Ghaziabad online conversion case, the central government took immediate action to review all gaming applications. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for IT, emphasized the need to ban betting, as well as harmful and addictive games in India.
Apart from this, the Ghaziabad police arrested Khan Shahnawaz Maqsood, believed to be the primary culprit behind the syndicate. He was arrested in Maharashtra’s Thane district.
