Surat police arrested a youth named Malik Mohammad (21) in a case of grooming jihad who allegedly trapped a minor Hindu girl by posing as a Hindu boy and raped her later on. The victim told the police that when Malik’s identity was exposed, he pressurized her to convert to Islam as a pre-condition to marry her. Police acted on the basis of a missing complaint lodged by the father of the victim at Puna police station. The victim came in contact with Malik through a social media account, where he had introduced himself as Rahul Patel. The 17-year-old girl went missing after Malik allured her to run away with him on October 31.
But after police rescued her on November 3 from Vadodara, it turned out to be a case of grooming jihad where the victim was kidnapped and raped also. The accused took her to a farmhouse at Karjan in Vadodara where he raped and asked her to change her religion. But she refused to do so. After that, she managed to contact her parents and inform them about the situation. The parents informed the police about her location, after which the girl was rescued from Vadodara.
ACP C Division BM Basawa is investigating the case against the accused who has been charged under sections of kidnapping, rape and cheating of IPC and POSCO and section 4 of Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act 2021. Police have secured his two days police remand for his questioning.
The accused is a resident of Narayan Nagar in Bhaiyanagar and he works at a local textile mill in the same area. According to police, the accused befriended the victim on fake identity as Rahul Patel, a Hindu boy. The accused has also tattooed his fake identity on his hand. The victim is said to a native of Uttar Pradesh but her family is settled in Surat. She is said to belong to a well-to-do family.
During the interrogation, the accused is learnt to have confessed the crime. About his family, the accused said that his mother is Hindu and his father is a Muslim. He accepted that he and his brothers and sister follow Islam. The victim told the police that she was unaware that Rahul was actually Malik who duped her by faking his identity.
