The incidents of love jihad and aligned religious conversion continue to emerge from the state of Maharashtra highlighting the urgent need of stringent law against forced conversion in the state. In a recent dreadful case reported from the Rahuri region of Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, a minor girl has registered an FIR against 8 individuals for love trapping her and then forcing to convert her religion to Islam.
The accused persons have been identified as Avej Nisar Sheikh, Kaif Sheikh, Sohail Sheikh, Heena Sheikh, Alisha Sheikh, Salim Pathan, Altaf Sheikh and Shakir Sayyed. The Police has also arrested four of these identified accused including two women and have booked the others under section 354, 354D, 109, 34 of the Indian Penal Code and under sections 8 and 12 of the POCSO Act.
Accused teacher Heena trained Hindu girls to behave like Muslims
As per the complaint copy obtained by OpIndia, the incident is said to have happened in the Umbre village of the Rahuri, Ahmednagar. The victim girl in the complaint copy said that she along with her friends who study in standard 10th had joined tuition classes at accused Heena Sheikh’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 Heena Sheikh got exposed.
The accused teacher allowed other boys from her community to enter the tuition and also allowed them to gather around the classes in presence of the Hindu girls. She used to ask the girls to be friends with them and speak in Hindi only. The victim girl in the complaint said that the boys (other accused booked) had nothing to do with the tuitions but were allowed to sit with them given the permission of accused Heena Sheikh.
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. She allowed other accused boys named Avej, Kaif, Sohail and others to sit in the tuitions with the Hindu girls.
Avej trapped a minor girl and forced her to run away with him, wear burqa
“One day while I was going home, one of the accused 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 said in the complaint.
The accused then began messaging the girl on her phone and also showed her fake concern regarding her safety. The girl also said in the complaint that Avej had forced her to send some of her photographs to him. She says that later he used the images to blackmail her for his benefits.
“I also had started believing him. One day he told me to quit Hindu religion and run away with him. He said that many people from his community in the village knew about our relation and that they were all ready to help us with money, home and other resources. All he wanted is just me to say yes. But I didn’t. The next thing I knew is he cut his hand and pressured me to talk to him and convert my religion to Islam,” the girl was quoted as saying.
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. Accordingly, Alisha met the victim girl and told her that Avej was madly in love with her and that he wanted to talk to her. Alisha then helped Avej to be in touch with the victim girl. Avej also used to message her on Instagram and blackmail that he would viral her photographs if she refused to talk to him.
“One day during the tuition hours, I heard Kaif and Sohail talking to Avej. The duo were provoking Avej to abduct me. They said that they would manage home and some money for us and that abducting me was the only good option. I felt something serious wrong was happening here and so I stopped talking to Avej,” the girl said.
He continued though to message me on Instagram but I stopped responding. “This happened somewhere in 2021. I was too scared to tell this all incident at home. After that my father took away my phone and asked me to concentrate on exams,” the victim added.
The girl registered complaint on July 26 after another girl from her tuition filed a police complaint against Avej. The victim then told her parents about Avej and his behaviour with her for past two years. The complaint was then registered also against Kaif, Sohail, Heena, Alisha, Salim Pathan, Altaf Sheikh and Shakir Sayyed.
3-4 girls from tuition exposed Avej, teacher Heena; accused them of imposing forced practices
The victim girl also mentioned in the complaint that she was forced to wear burqa by Alisha and Avej and told to behave like Muslim girls by her tuition teacher Heena.
As per the sources, the around 3-4 girls from the same tuition have come forward and accused Avej of trapping them in love affair separately and then forcing them to respond to his ‘proposal’ leading to forced conversion.
OpIndia has obtained three different FIR copies in which it the three victim girls have mentioned that Avej first trapped them in love affair and then made plans with his friends to abduct them.
Teacher Heena helped the boys to attain photographs of the girls which were used to blackmail them
Also, it has come to fore that accused tuition teacher Heena 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 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.
OpIndia talked to one of the girls who confirmed the incident. She said that around 7-8 girls have been targeted till date but only three of us have registered official complaints. She said that she and also other girls had to go through a lot due to the tuition teacher and the accused boys.
BJP MLA Prasad Lad takes cognizance, demands action
Sources said to OpIndia that initially no complaints were registered in the case. The administration acted swiftly only after BJP MLA Prasad Lad raised the issue in the State Council and demanded action in the case.
BJP MLA Prasad Lad condemned the incident and said that the local administration also brutally assaulted some of the local people and members of local Hindu organization who tried to reach to the truth of the case. He said that the CCTV footage of the event is also available.
BJP MLA Prasad Lad demanding action in Rahuri LJ case. from OpIndia Videos on Vimeo.
Counter FIR filed by accused Salim Pathan against 25 Hindu members
Reportedly, a counter FIR has been filed by one of the accused Salim Pathan who said that the members of the Hindu organization attacked his place of work and barged into a nearby Masjid further creating ruckus in the premises. Pathan also claimed that the Hindu members broke damaged the Masjid using rods and sticks. Based on the complaint, the Police has booked around 25 Hindus under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Bombay Police Act.
Sources revealed to OpIndia that the Hindu members have been booked under ‘false’ allegations and that the locals had gone just to seek answers that why were Hindu girls trapped and taken to Masjid.
Hindus deliberately targeted, assaulted; false case, says Hindu activists
Members of the Hindu organization also stated that the police has booked around 25 Hindus but that many people were not present when the incident happened. “This is all a part of plan. 25 active Hindu activits have been deliberatly targeted and these people have nothing to do with the case in first place. Also some of the Hindu members were brutally beaten by the local police while they had gathered to meet the victim girls and help them. The CCTV footage of the incident is available. Also MLA Lad has raised this issue in the Council and sought attention,” sources said.
At present, four of the accused including Heena Sheikh and Avej have been arrested by the Police based on the complaint filed by the minor Hindu girls. Also, 14 out of 25 Hindu members have been taken into custody based on the counter complaint filed by accused Salim Pathan in the case. Further investigations in the case are underway.