The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has come up with its final fact-finding report on the Rahuri love jihad case that emerged from Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district in July this year. The NCPCR noted that the investigation by the local police in the case had several gaps, lacunas, and anomalies. It directed the CBI to take over the case to provide justice to the minor Hindu girls who were trapped by the Muslim boys and their tuition teacher named Heena Pathan who further wanted to convert the girls to Islam.
Team OpIndia had exclusively covered this case in the month of July this year. It was reported that one of the minor girls had registered an FIR against 8 individuals for love-trapping her and then forcing them to convert their religion to Islam.
Heena Shaikh introduced the victim to her 'relative' Avej, besides allowing other boys from her community to sit in the class (even though they were not students).
— OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) August 7, 2023
Avej initially displayed 'respect for women' and quickly forged friendship with the minor Hindu girl.
(3/n) pic.twitter.com/xxdVr7KbMN
The accused persons were identified as Avej Nisar Sheikh, Kaif Sheikh, Sohail Sheikh, Heena Pathan, Alisha Sheikh, Salim Pathan, Altaf Sheikh, and Shakir Sayyed. The Police had also arrested four of these identified accused including two women. The others meanwhile had been booked under sections 354, 354D, 109, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and under sections 8 and 12 of the POCSO Act.
Police conducted improper investigation, tampered evidence to favor accused: NCPCR
The NCPCR in its report stated that the Ahmednagar Police failed to gather pieces of evidence in the case after the complaints were lodged by the minor girls. The police also happened to tamper with the pieces of evidence provided by the victim girls and their respective families. “The police formatted the phone of the primary accused Avej and deleted all the photos of the victim girls,” the report mentioned.
Further, the NCPCR noted that the Ahmednagar Police used a tactic of lodging a counter-case on several members of the Hindu community who protested against the violations done by the accused boys.
“The role of police in the entire investigation is questionable. It is imperative and important that this matter requires a detailed and thorough probe by an external investigating agency such as the CBI,” the fact-finding report by the NCPCR noted.
Also, the commission recommended the immediate removal of the SP, Additional SP, and SHO from Ahmednagar Police until the completion of the CBI investigation in the case. The officers as per the NCPCR had conducted lax, improper, and misguided investigations.
What had happened in Rahuri in July?
Hindu minor girls in Ahmednagar’s Rahuri filed an FIR in the case saying that they were being harassed and forced to convert their religion by their tuition teacher Heena Pathan and her ‘relative’ Avej Sheikh.
The victim girl in the complaint copy said that she along with her friends who were studying in standard 10th had joined tuition classes at the accused Heena Pathan’s home. The girls had joined the tuition classes in the year 2021 and continued to attend the classes until the true face of the accused teacher was exposed.
The accused teacher allowed her ‘relatives’ Avej, Sohail, Kaif, and Nisar from her community to enter the tuition and also allowed them to gather around the classes in the presence of the Hindu girls. She used to ask the girls to be friends with them and speak in Hindi only. The local language spoken in Maharashtra is Marathi people hardly prefer speaking Hindi. Heena however, forced the minor girls to speak Hindi saying that it was the culture and habit of Muslims.
The victim girl in the complaint said that the accused boys had nothing to do with the tuition but were allowed to sit with them given the permission of the accused Heena Pathan. The teacher also asked the girls to behave like Muslim girls and wear burqa. She also wanted the girls to stop wearing bangles and apply kumkum on their foreheads.
Avej trapped a minor girl and forced her to run away with him, wear burqa
The incident had come to the fore after one of the victims dared to come forward and file a police complaint against Avej and the tuition teacher. The girl in the complaint mentioned that Avej trapped many girls from his tuition and forced them to marry him. He would trap the girls in different time periods and none of the girls knew that they were being trapped by the accused until he was exposed after the police case.
The girl in the complaint mentioned that accused Avej would show respect towards girls and silently approach for friendship. He would then develop relations with the girls and propose they marry and run away with him. OpIndia had covered this case on the ground and had exclusively learned that the accused was provided support by other Muslim people from the village.
The victim girl was also likely trapped by the accused. “I was going home. Avej stopped me and told me that he liked me. Initially, he showed so much respect towards women so I decided to be friends with him. Later he began establishing casual contacts with my brother and then began coming home. In the due period he also told me that he loved me and that he could not stay without me,” the victim girl was quoted as saying in the complaint.
The accused became friends with the girl’s brother and would often barge into his home to see the victim. He also asked his sister to become friends with the victim. On the festival of Eid, the accused and his friends, his sister entered the victim’s home and clicked some photographs with her. They arrived at the victim’s home in the absence of her father under the guise of sharing sweets and forcefully took some pictures. These pictures were then used by the accused to blackmail and threaten the victim.
The accused Avej also sexually assaulted the girl that day and touched her private parts. He further threatened the girl and said that she would be murdered if she opened her mouth regarding the assault.
Avej’s friends, sister interfered and helped him to trap Hindu girls
As per the FIR, accused Avej asked his sister Alisha to interfere and convince the victim girl to accept his ‘love’ proposal. Accordingly, Alisha one day met the victim girl and told her that Avej was madly in love with her and that he wanted to marry her. Avej also used to message the victim on Instagram and blackmail her saying that he would viral her photographs if she refused to talk to him. He also asked the girl to convert her religion to Islam and marry him.
He said to the girl that Salim Pathan, Altaf Sheikh, and Shakir Sayyed (other accused booked in the case) from the village knew about their ‘relation’ and were ready to provide them with a home and some money post-conversion and wedding.
The girl got scared and informed Heena Pathan. But the accused tuition teacher would also favor the accused and praise Islam in front of her. She would say that Islam is the purest and oldest of all the religions. She would ask the victim to be with Avej and listen to what he would propose or suggest.
The victim girl also complained that she was forced to wear a burqa by Alisha and Avej and told to behave like Muslim girls by her tuition teacher Heena. As per the exclusive details that were obtained by OpIndia, around 3-4 girls from the same tuition had come forward and accused Avej of trapping them in love affairs separately and then forcing them to respond to his ‘proposal’ leading to forced conversion.
OpIndia has obtained three different FIR copies in which the three victim girls mentioned that Avej first trapped them in a love affair and then made plans with his friends to abduct them and convert them to Islam.
Heena would feed the victim with some powder giving the ‘strength of Islam’
OpIndia in August this year, traveled to Rahuri to obtain the ground details on this case. The team talked to one of the victims in the case who first filed the FIR against the accused. The motherless girl informed the team that she was assaulted and also harassed by the accused identified as Avej.
She said that given her mother’s loss, Heena would take benefit of her vulnerable emotions and offer her food after the tuitions sometimes. “She would tell me to have meals at her home daily but I refused. I stay with my brother and my father and I love being with them. However, Heena would pity me and give me milk and rice sometimes after tuition. I would not want to have it but she would force me to eat,” the girl said.
She further informed that the Heena would mix some power in the milk and say that it was to provide her with some strength. “It used to taste bitter. And I would also feel a bit dizzy after having it. But I never complained as I thought Heena teacher was genuinely doing this for me out of love. Heena teacher said that the powder mixed with the milk was to give her the strength of Islam,” the girl said.
Also, it had come to the fore that the accused tuition teacher Heena had helped the boys in attaining the photographs of the Hindu girls from the tuition. “She used to offer us Shirkhurma on Eid and say that it is mandatory in their religion to click a selfie after having Shirkhurma. And then our images were morphed and misused to blackmail us to be in relation with the Muslim boys,” one of the victims in her complaint filed on July 29 said.
The NCPCR in its report also mentioned that Heena would take the tuition classes daily from 4 pm to 6 pm but would teach Math only for half and hour. The rest of the time, she used to teach the victim girls about Islam and train them to behave like Muslim girls.
Hindus protested but were falsely booked by accused Salim Pathan
The victim girls filed the police complaint but the police failed to take action in the case. This irked the Hindu community who launched protests in the area. The Hindu community members met the victim girls and their respective families to offer help in the case. However, one of the accused Salim Pathan filed an FIR against the Hindu community members falsely accusing them of damaging the Masjid.
In the FIR, accused Pathan mentioned that the members of the Hindu organization attacked his place of work and barged into a nearby Masjid further creating a ruckus on the premises. He also claimed that the Hindu members damaged the Masjid using rods and sticks. Accordingly, the police booked around 25 in the case and arrested 13 on July 27.
Team OpIndia visited Umbre village on August 3 to learn that the 13 Hindu persons from Rahuri who were arrested by the police and released on bail on August 1 were in no way involved in damaging the Masjid as claimed by accused Salim Pathan. They were not present in Umbre when the Masjid was damaged as claimed by accused Pathan.
It was later learned that the members of the Hindu community were specifically targeted for extending help to the minor victim girls who were trapped in a Love Jihad case. The entire incident of the false case was exposed by OpIndia after the team talked to one of the Hindu members who was arrested in the false case and also to the police. The detailed account of the case can be read here.
Police did not investigate the case properly, favored the accused, targeted Hindu members
The Hindu members were beaten by the Police after they met the victim girls at a local community hall in the village. However, the CCTV footage of the incident was destroyed by the authorities. The issue was also raised by BJP MLA Prasad Lad in the Maharashtra Legislative Council who sought strict action against the local officers who allegedly filed false police cases against the Hindu persons.
BJP MLA Prasad Lad demanding action in Rahuri LJ case. from OpIndia Videos on Vimeo.
OpIndia had contacted Rahuri Police Inspector Dhananjay Jadhav in the case who had refused to comment on the wrongful arrest of the Hindu members. On asking whether the 13 Hindu persons were actually present in Umbre when the ruckus around the Masjid happened, the PI had said, “Nothing can be commented on that now. Whether they were part of the villager’s mob who created a ruckus around the Masjid or not will be decided in and by the Court. It’s all part of an ongoing investigation that cannot be revealed at present.”
Meanwhile, the victim girls confirmed to OpIndia that the Hindu members had met them to help them and were unnecessarily beaten by the Police. “The Hindu brothers had come to help us. They did nothing. But the Police charged them and arrested them,” one of the girls had said while exclusively talking to OpIndia.
Victim girl says education of girls resumed after Ministers raised the issue in the State council from OpIndia Videos on Vimeo.
Accused would discourage the girls to study and loiter outside their homes: NCPCR
The NCPCR in the fact-finding report further mentioned that while Ajev trapped the girls in a ‘love’ affair, there was also one Shahnavaz Sheikh who forced one of the victim girls to marry him and convert to Islam.
As per the report, one of the victim girls reported that Shanavaz Sheikh, when she had gone to the market, had forcibly taken her behind a car, hugged her, kissed her, and clicked a selfie with her. He would blackmail her so that if she did not come to him whenever he calls, he would make her photo viral to all.
He would ask her for her Adhar card or any other identification. He would tell her that they both should run away and get married, inspite of her protesting against his demands. He would discourage the victim from pursuing her studies and would often insist she get married to him post-conversion.
The girl reported that Shanavaz must be 21-22 years old; he had 3 mobile phones wherein he had stored photos of many other girls and multiple Instagram accounts. Also, Shanavaz Sheikh owned 4 motorcycles.
Conclusion: CBI inquiry must
The incidents of love jihad are massively increasing in the state of Maharashtra where the Muslims target the innocent, vulnerable Hindu girls and force them to convert their religion to Islam. In the given case, one of the victim girls also confirmed that she was targeted by the teacher as the latter knew that the girl was suffering from her mother’s loss and that her social and emotional condition was vulnerable.
The teacher began trapping the little girl by offering her food mixed with some ‘Islamic powder’ and made her believe that Islam was the purest of all religions. The teacher then forced the girls to be friends with Muslim boys who trapped them in ‘love’ affairs and forced them to convert their religion to Islam.
Moreover, the Hindu community members who tried to help the girls were booked in false cases. The shreds of evidence were destroyed by the Police and even the complaints of the girls were initially ignored. The accused were allegedly favored by the administration. Their mobile phones which contained derogatory, morphed photos and chats of the girls were formatted.
In several cases, if the accused has connections with some influential personalities, the victim girls remain unheard. The victims are either asked by the police to drop the case or are delayed justice. With this kind of law and order situation existing at the local levels, how can anyone say that the Hindu girls residing in the so-called ‘secular’ society are safe? In this case, though the influential connections remain untraced, the accused appeared to have the support of the Muslim community members who offered him with home and money to convert the Hindu girls.
Notably, after the exclusive reporting by OpIndia and efforts taken by the local Hindu community members, the accused Muslim boys and the tuition teacher were arrested by the police. Also, the 13 Hindus who were wrongly arrested by the Police based on a false case filed by one of the accused booked by the girls were released.
The CBI, as suggested by the NCPCR committee, therefore, must look into the case and deliver justice to the victim girls.
Please read earlier reports regarding this case here, here and here.
