Uttarakhand man arrested for sexually exploiting Hindu woman, attempting to convert her to Islam

Haridwar: A Muslim man was arrested here on Friday for allegedly sexually exploiting a Hindu woman after promising to marry her and attempting to abduct and force her to convert when she insisted on marriage, a senior police official said.

But the woman managed to escape from the man's clutches with the help of Hindu organisations and lodged a police complaint. Subsequently, a case was lodged and the accused was arrested, Haridwar's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pramendra Doval said.

The woman (22) has lodged a case against the man (30) at the Kankhal police station and said his father and uncles are also involved in trying to force her to convert to Islam.

She has also sought police protection citing a threat to her life from the man and his family.

The SSP said the accused had befriended the woman at a gym by introducing himself as a Hindu man named "Arsh". He used to come with a 'tilak' on his forehead.

However, it was found out later on that the man's real name was Afsan who is a resident of Gadowali village under Pathri police station area, the SSP said.

As their friendship grew, he talked about marriage. He kept exploiting her physically by giving her false hopes of marriage. When she pressured him to marry her, he first asked her to convert to another religion, Doval said.

The man's parents, brother, uncle and the village head were also pressuring her to convert to another religion but when she refused, they kidnapped her to forcefully convert her, he said.

The SSP said the victim told in her statement that the accused kept raping her on the pretext of marriage and was pressuring her to change her religion.

The accused is being sent to judicial custody and strict action will be taken against all those who supported the accused in the case, Doval said.

The victim's statement under section 164 is being recorded, he said.

Justice will be done and the culprits will be brought to book, he said.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has instructed the officials in the state to take strict action in cases where Muslim men have hidden their religious identity to befriend Hindu women and attempted to abduct them after several such cases came to light in Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Haridwar and other districts.

In a meeting with senior police and administrative officials in June 2023, he told reporters, "People of different faiths co-exist peacefully in Uttarakhand but things like love jihad will not be tolerated. Crimes like these were being committed as part of a conspiracy. But people are coming out openly against them now."

"Instructions have been given to the police to deal sternly with the guilty in love jihad cases. They have also been asked to conduct verification drives from time to time to look into the antecedents of people coming from outside and settling here," he said.