UP: Hindu Woman Alleges ‘Love Jihad’ After Husband Abandons Her, Says Irfan Had Posed As Rahul To Marry Her

A Hindu woman who eloped and married a man identified as Mohammed Irfan Sheikh after her conversion to Islam against her parents’ wishes, has returned to them after Irfan abandoned her. A police case in this regard was filed in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh two weeks ago. 

Among other charges, the police have booked Irfan for her forced religious conversion.

The first information report (FIR) was filed at Izzatnagar Police Station of Bareilly on 29 November against Irfan and members of his family.

The complainant, Madhu Vishwakarma, in her detailed statement recorded in the FIR (number 984/2022), says that Irfan had posed as a Hindu man named Rahul to trap her into a relationship before marrying her.

Here is Madhu’s complaint in detail:

Before her marriage, Madhu lived in the Air Force Peer Bahoda area in Bareilly. She belonged to a Hindu family. Six years ago, while she was a student, Irfan Sheikh began following her to college every day. He was a resident of Tilwada area in Bareilly. They eventually got talking.

He introduced himself as Rahul. The two entered into a relationship, and she eloped from her house to marry him. After marriage, they began living in a rented apartment in the Choti Vihar area of the city. It was when she started living with him that she found out he was Muslim.

When she confronted him, he forced her to convert to Islam, and the two had a ‘nikah’ ceremony as per Islamic customs. After conversion, her name was changed to Simran.

Madhu went on to have two daughters from this marriage — one is five years old while the other is three. In July this year, she gave birth to another daughter who, unfortunately, did not survive and died in September.

Irfan’s family would harass and mentally torture Madhu. After the birth of her third daughter, the harassment increased. Domestic violence on her became a daily affair. 

On 30 September this year, Irfan, his brothers and mother Sakeena thrashed Madhu and threw her out of the house along with the daughters. They booked an autorickshaw, put her luggage into it and made her leave. 

Madhu tried to talk to Irfan several times, begging him to let her return for the sake of her daughters, but he paid no heed.

On 27 November, however, Irfan came and took her back to his house. There, he assaulted her again. Then, in the middle of the night, he again threw her out of his house like the previous time.

Irfan told her that his religion allows him to have four wives. 

Madhu’s statement concludes here while requesting police action against Irfan and his family members, but adds that Irfan is simultaneously also in an affair with five Hindu women.

Based on this statement, the police booked Irfan and some family members under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021.

Madhu gave a video statement to the media on the day she reached the police station for help, where she repeats the allegations made in her complaint. She additionally told the media that as a condition for allowing her to return home, Irfan is demanding Rs 1 lakh and a motorcycle from her parents. 

Watch the video here.

Arun Srivastava, Station House Officer of Izzatnagar Police Station, told Swarajya that Irfan was arrested on the same day of the FIR. Asked if the police had added any charges in the case, particularly the dowry-related laws, the officer said that he would not know that as the case was being investigated by a senior officer — ASP Chandrakant Meena.

This correspondent tried contacting officer Meena but the calls went unanswered on 13 December. 

This correspondent could not contact the complainant, Madhu, as her phone number mentioned in the FIR said it was a wrong number.

The Case Follows A Pattern

This case follows the same pattern of communal-gender crimes that Swarajya has been reporting extensively, where men from the Muslim community have been found to target non-Muslim women for relationships for their conversion to Islam through nikah.

Such relationships often result in loveless marriages where women are sexually exploited and humiliated. 

More than a decade ago, Christian organisations in Kerala began campaigning against this pattern and gave it the name of ‘love jihad’. Since then, several other religious groups have used the term to protest this pattern. These include the Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Buddhist and tribal groups.

This kind of targetting for conversion seems to have its basis in the ‘Dawah’ concept in Islamic society that makes it incumbent on all Muslims to convert non-Muslims to Islam. 

Another manifestation of this ‘Dawah’ mandate is seen in the routine killings of non-Muslim men for forming relationships with Muslim women as well as forcible conversion of men through lure, force or trickery. 

Several states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana have passed bills or enacted laws to penalise such forced conversions in the last couple of years. 

Congress and other opposition political parties, on the other hand, have called ‘love jihad’ a ‘Hindutva conspiracy against Muslims’ and staged walkouts from Parliament to protest these laws. 

Here are some of the several cases covered by Swarajya of the targetting of women under this pattern here:

· Hindu Woman Files Police Case Against Ex-Boyfriend-Now-Stalker Who ‘Lied’ About His Name And Religion To Trap Her

· Minor Hindu Girl Who Eloped With Muslim Man Returns To Parents After Three Years, Accuses Him Of Hiding Identity And Forced Conversion

· Married Me In Hindu Temple, Now Forcing Me To Convert To Islam’: Seven Months Pregnant Woman Files Police Case Against Husband

· Hindu Woman Who Accused Muslim Man Of ‘Trapping’ Her With False Identity Ten Days Before UP ‘Love Jihad’ Law Vows To Fight Case Till End

· ‘Force-Fed Me Meat On Navratri’: Hindu Woman Who Eloped With Muslim Man Accuses Him Of Triple Talaq For Not Converting To Islam

· Story Of Saharanpur Resident Mamta, Who Has Accused One Sohail Of Posing As Saurav To Trap Her, Convert Her To Islam

· ‘He Said He Will Go To Jannat If I Converted,’ Says Hindu Woman Who Accused One Shahbaz Of Trapping Her With False Name

· Interfaith Love: Rachna, Who Eloped With Irfan And Accused Him Of Forcible Conversion, Is Dead

·  ‘He Changed Name To Rahul Only To Mislead Her’: Court Grants Divorce To Hindu Woman Who Married Muslim Man Under Hindu Marriage Act