In a case of Love Jihad and forceful conversion that was reported from the Rahuri region of Ahmednagar district in August 2023, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has issued summons to the state government for taking no action against the accused persons. NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has asked the Additional Chief Secretary of the state Home Department to appear in person on 13th December and submit the relevant action taken report in the case.
The notice has been issued under sections 13 and 14 of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005. As per the official letter, the matter was first taken up with the Chief Secretary of the Government of Maharashtra in October 2023, who was supposed to submit the action taken report within 7 days. However, the case was transferred to the home department.
“Thereafter the matter is pending with the Home Department. The Commission in pursuance of the functions and powers under sections 13 and 14 of the CPCR Act 2005, directs you to appear in person before the Commission on 13th December along with the relevant documents,” the letter directed to the Additional Chief Secretary of the state Home Department read.
Earlier on 24th October the NCPCR had come up with its final fact-finding report in which the Commission mentioned that the investigation by the local police in the case had several gaps, lacunas, and anomalies. It had 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.
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
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 trapping her in a love affair and then forcing them to convert their religion to Islam.
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 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, NCPCR stated. “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 approach the girls in different time periods and none of the girls knew that they were being persuaded by the accused until he was exposed after the police case.
The girl in the complaint mentioned that accused Avej would approach the girls tactfully, carefully grooming them with sweet talking and winning their confidence. 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 accused also sexually assaulted the minor girls and captured derogatory photos of them which he used to blackmail them to convert to Islam. He further threatened the girls and said that they would be murdered if they opened their mouths regarding the assault.
Avej’s friends, and sister interfered and helped him trap Hindu girls
As per the FIR, accused Avej asked his sister Alisha to interfere and convince one of the victim girls 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.
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.
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 refused to comment on wrongful arrest
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 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.
Conclusion
The incidents of love jihad are massively increasing in the state of Maharashtra where vulnerable Hindu girls, many of them minors are targeted. 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.
In several cases, if the accused has connections with some influential personalities, the victim girls remain unheard. 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 men 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.
Detailed reports regarding this case can be read here, here, and here.
