On August 30, 2023, a woman police constable was attacked in a train in Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh. It is alleged that three men named Anees, Azad and Vishambhar first tried to molest the woman police constable and brutally beat her up when she resisted.
The main accused in this case Anees was killed in an encounter by the police on Friday 22 September 2023. At the same time, Azad and Vishambhar have been injured in this encounter, and are undergoing treatment.
This was not the first crime incident of Anees and Azad. The OpIndia team visited the village of Anees and Azad and also the encounter site to unravel the layers of their crimes. During this visit, we found that both the accused not only have a long criminal history but also have serious charges like grooming jihad and oppressing Dalits.
Anees and Azad married Hindu girls
The OpIndia team left for Dashalawan village in the Haiderganj police station area of Ayodhya. The deceased Anees and the injured Azad Khan are residents of this village. The village, about 50 km from Ayodhya city, borders Sultanpur district. There was a lot of police force deployed in the village. Both male and female policemen were stationed in front of the deceased Anees’s house.
Several green flags were seen lined up in front of Anees’s house. During this time, we came to know that the deceased Anees had married a Hindu woman from a Dalit community.
The woman hailed from the Manupur village, located about 2 km from his house. Before marriage, the Dalit girl’s name was Antima. Now she is known as Bano. Bano is the mother of a baby girl named Arifa.
At the same time, the accused Azad Khan, who was arrested in this encounter, has also married a Hindu girl. Azad’s wife belongs to the OBC community and hails from the same Dashalawan village.
Suman was married to Azad Khan about 13 years ago. Suman – the daughter of Munna – became Shabana after her marriage. Now Shabana is the mother of 4 children. Anees’s and Azad’s houses in the village are almost adjacent to each other.
Anees wanted to marry Antima when she was a minor
The OpIndia team went to Manupur village and first met the mother of Anees’s wife Antima (now Bano). Antima’s mother cried and said that Anees would often follow her daughter since she was a minor. She alleged that Anees had managed to Antima while on her way to school when she was in Class 8.
Antima’s mother said that at first Anees wanted to marry Antima at a young age, but due to the intervention of the police, it could not happen. Later, Anees waited for Antima to become an adult and took her with him as soon as she became an adult.
Antima’s mother further told us that the entire community along with her 5 other daughters and 2 sons opposed this relationship. The matter went to the police and the victim’s family accused Anees of kidnapping Antima.
However, during the police investigation, Antima expressed her desire to live with Anees, claiming to be an adult. Crying over the news of Antima becoming a widow at the age of 25-26, her mother told us that she would not be able to bring her back to her family even if she wanted to. The reason for this was a threat of a boycott by the community and the resolve of her own sons not to have any relations with her.
Antima’s mother further told us, “We are Hindus, they are Muslims. How could we connect with them? Even if she had married in our own religion, there would have been a way out.” She told us that after her daughter married a Muslim, her husband became mentally ill and now acts like crazy. She added, “Had our daughter not brought shame to us, Anees would have been in jail by now.”
Antima’s mother claimed that she or her family never even spoke to their daughter after her marriage five years ago. She did not even know that her daughter Antima’s name has now become Bano.
When the OpIndia team was about to leave her house, Antima’s mother said, “I gave birth to her. We have a lot of pain inside our hearts. But we can’t do anything. She won’t be able to sustain long in that house. You only encourage her.”
For us, Suman is dead
After leaving Antima’s house, the OpIndia team reached Suman’s house. Suman is married to Azad Khan. Suman, a mother of 4 children, has now become Shabana.
The distance between Suman and Azad Khan’s house is just a few steps. Both are residents of the same village. Suman’s father’s name is Munna. We met Suman’s mother. She was sitting in front of the door. On hearing her daughter’s name, tears rolled down her eyes at first. Later, she said that for all of them, Suman was dead now.
Suman’s mother shared that her daughter had been attending school, during which time Azad Khan began to interact with her and started to follow her. They first crossed paths while Suman was on her way to school. Approximately 13 years ago, when Suman reached the age of 20, both of them got married.
Suman’s mother said that she then filed a case against Azad and fought the case from the police station to the court. However, in the end, Suman herself expressed her desire to live with Azad Khan in front of the court and the police.
Suman’s mother said that after that statement, she never even looked at Suman or her house. Suman’s mother accused her own daughter of insulting her whole family in society. She said that the action taken against Azad in the case of the assault on the woman constable or any other case before that does not make any difference to her or her family. However, it is not yet known whether the deceased Anees and Azad – injured in the encounter – have legally changed the names of their wives or if it is just an informal name change.
OpIndia spoke to a few others from Dashalawan village. They pleaded not to reveal their identity for security reasons. They said that they are afraid to share their identity. A Dalit woman said that many Hindu women in the village have come to the Muslim house after marriage. These girls are from other states including Delhi and Bihar. Recalling a 20-year-old case in the village, another woman told us that Maulvi Baba’s name had appeared in her marriage of a Hindu girl to a Muslim.
OpIndia has repeatedly underscored the gravity of grooming jihad in the past. This issue is not limited solely to developing countries like India, which have significant Muslim populations but also extends to developed nations such as France and Britain. In this variant of jihad, non-Muslim girls are subjected to brainwashing and psychological manipulation, convincing them not only to marry Muslim youths but also to forsake their previous lives and become slaves to those Muslims.
