On Sunday(13th October), Uttarakhand Police arrested one individual identified as Shoaib Khan, 24 for entrapping a Hindu woman using the identity of Shubham. The accused also sexually abused the Hindu woman and threatened to kill her.
He also forced her to convert to Islam. The Uttarakhand police arrested Shoaib Khan in connection to the case. According to a report by Panchjanya, Shoaib and the Hindu woman, the wife of businessman Vishal Agarwal, met at the gym.
The accused then created a fake social media profile in the name of Shubham and began talking to the woman. He then initiated moves to get closer to her. However, the woman refused.
JJN is a local news channel of Haldwani , Uttarakhand
— Anshul (@anshul_aliganj) October 13, 2024
A businessman along with his wife goes to gym.
There a person Shoaib creates a social media account in the name of Shubham. He somehow gets the phone no of the wife of the businessman. Starts messaging/calling her… pic.twitter.com/BU5tHjvAih
She asked ‘Shubham’ to stop keeping any association with her. She also warned him not to call or message anymore. Later, the accused threatened her and sexually molested her.
As per a local news report by JJN News, Shoaib Khan also forced the woman to convert her religion to Islam. The incident came to the fore only after the woman informed about the incident at her home.
She recounted being abused, assaulted and threatened with dire consequences if she failed to convert to Islam. The husband of the woman then filed a police complaint leading to his arrest.
Shoaib Khan arrested following police complaint
In the complaint, husband Vishal Agarwal said that the accused introduced himself as Shubham to his wife and began getting closer to her. He said that he got her phone number from somewhere and began calling and messaging her.
“When my wife refused to talk to him, he molested her, assaulted and also threatened her. After this on 11th October, I confronted him but he again assaulted and threatened me too,” he said.
Based on the complaint the police took immediate action to arrest the accused under the relevant sections of the law and arrested Khan. Further investigations into the case are underway.
Rise in love jihad cases in Uttarakhand
The state of Uttarakhand in the recent past has seen an increase in cases of Love Jihad at the hands of Islamists. In September 2024, Shahzad lured a 30-year-old divorced Hindu woman with two children by posing as Monu Choudhary in Dehradun. In July 2024, a Muslim young man named Azam in the capital city befriended a minor Hindu girl from Sahaspur by posing as Ajju and then raped her. He was arrested and the police also recovered obscene videos and photos of the girl from his phone.
In April 2024, one Atharuddin was accused of harassing a Hindu minor by introducing himself as a Sikh. He got the girl’s phone number when she visited his shop to buy a phone recharge. He lured her and forced her to be friends with him. Later it was also found that he used to follow the girl to college, had molested her several times, and had threatened to abduct her. Detailed reports in this case can be read here.
Notably, the state has seen massive demographic changes in the recent past. Amid such reports, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s government has started taking action. The police last month launched a ‘verification campaign’ to verify the people living in the state. They also stated that the CM had ordered them to take strict action against demographic change, conversion, and love jihad in the state.
According to the reports, the DGP said on 8th September that a month-long verification campaign had been started in some areas to check the anti-social elements settled in the state. After its completion, a conclusion could be reached about the demographic change. If there was any such case, then this campaign would provide information about it.
In fact, during the last census in 2011, the total population of Uttarakhand was about 1.10 crores. Out of this, about 84 lakh population was Hindu, which was 83% of the total population. At the same time, the population of Muslims was 14.06 lakh i.e. 13.9% and Sikhs were 2.34%. Notably, in the 2001 census, the Muslim population in the state was 10.12 lakh.
Regarding love jihad cases, the DGP then said that two adults are free to choose their life partners. However, if someone forms a relationship with the intention of converting the another’s religion, then the police will take action under the existing laws. If there is no such intention, then the police will not harass anyone. He said that both issues are a priority for the state police.
