Ankit alias Mohd Chand with Kareena (Amar Ujala)
A video of a couple undergoing nikah as per Islamic ritual is going viral on social media. The duo can be seen taking vows and repeating ‘Qubul hai’ after the cleric solemnising the nikah. The video is going viral because the man who is calling himself Mohammad Chand was Ankit Kumar till four months ago. The family alleges conversion and asked the police to investigate the matter.
As per the reports, Kareena and Ankit Kumar, natives of Nathupur village of the Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, fell in love with each other. They had eloped almost four months ago from the village. It was reported that they had a Hindu wedding initially.
The family members of Kareena have been against the alliance since day 1. On September 2, a video of them undergoing conversion-nikah went viral on social media. In this clip, Ankit is pronounced Mohammad Chand, who was taking vows for Kareena.
The woman towards the end of the clip can be heard saying, “Please take extra money but record the clip properly”.
The village where the duo hails from falls under the jurisdiction of Chaubepur police station of Kanpur. The Station House Officer, Chaubepur, Sanjay Pandey told media that, the couple eloped almost 4 months back from the village. After their elopement, the family registered an FIR against Ankit, alleging abduction of their daughter (claimed to be a minor). However, the woman was a major and never returned home.
After the video of the duo was shared among villagers, the family of Ankit and the local Hindu activists protested against the woman. They called it forced conversion and demanded action against the perpetrators.
Following the agitation, the police reached the village but could not find the couple. The teams are looking for them, as of now, no complaint has been registered against anyone in the case.
Cases where Hindu men in an interfaith relationship have converted to Islam
Threats by Muslim men to Hindu women for conversion are now common but new are the cases where Muslim women upon marrying a Hindu man force them to convert.
Organiser has been reporting such cases in large numbers. In the recent case, Ajay, a native of the Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh was forced to convert by his wife Muskan. A video of her threatening Ajay went viral on social media, in which she said, “convert or get killed”. Subsequently, an FIR was registered, read the details of this case in a report by Organiser here.
Organiser reported a case in March this year, where A Dalit man from Aurangabad city of Maharashtra filed a case against his ex-girlfriend and her family for forced circumcision (Khatna), extortion and caste abuse. After struggling for almost two long years, he finds no relief from the High Court as the accused and family were granted bail.
Regarding the allegations of forced circumcision, the Court ruled that medical experts have failed to prove if the circumcision was done naturally or surgically. About the ‘Love Jihad’ angle the Bombay High Court stated that ‘Merely because the boy and girl are from different religions, it cannot have a religious angle. It can be a case of pure love for each other.’
The man Dipak Ramdas Sonawane alleged that the accused Sana Farheen Shahmir also showed him Zakir Naik videos. Sana was a participant in this year’s Shark Tank India and her brand also draws funds from the Sharks (investors) in the show.
Notably, a similar case of forced circumcision was reported in Maharashtra in the month of December 2022. The Man Bablu Milind Chouhan who belongs to the Valmiki Jati get married to Rabia Khatun in 2018.
After their wedding, they moved from Solapur to Pune for work, the place where they lived in Pune resided mostly Muslim families and one of their neighbours Asif Shiekh learned about Bablu being a Hindu.
One day, Asif approached Rabia and asked her if she was Muslim, to which she said yes, she was. Asif began harassing Rabia after that day. When Rabia told this to Bablu, he confronted Asif, but the latter insulted Bablu saying he was a ‘kafir’
Asif told him, “You are Hindu, you are ‘kafir’ and despite that, you married a woman from my religion. Either you convert to Islam or leave her.”
On October 14, 2022, Asif with Haji Sahab get Bablu forcefully circumcised. They also confronted Rabia saying she should have married a ‘Five Times Namazi’ instead of a Kaffir Hindu.
Watch their statement here:
In a similar case from Uttar Pradesh a Dalit man, Jagveer Kori gave a complaint against his wife Pooja who turned out to be Haseena Bano twelve years after their marriage. When the truth came out she started forcing Jagveer to convert to else she will get him killed and take away all his property.
In October 2022, Jagveer told this correspondent that, “My marriage has turned out to be a big lie. My wife, who claimed she was an orphan, has a big Muslim family. She is not Pooja but Haseena Bano. They all have forcibly made my son undergo circumcision”.
In this case, a FIR (number–403/2022) was registered at the Ayodhya Kotwali on September 2022.
Watch Jagveer’s statement here:
In a similar case from Meerut, a man Dushyant Choudhary committed suicide after his wife Farah and family started forcing him to convert to Islam. He committed suicide on January 2022.
Based on a complaint by Dushyant’s cousin Johny, the Nauchandi police filed a first important report (FIR) on 29 January (number 15/2023). However, despite the forced conversion allegations, police have booked Dushyant’s wife and in-laws only for abetment to suicide.
This correspondent talked to Dushyant’s friend Sumit who said, Dushyant had adopted Islamic ways. He stopped going to temples or accepting puja prasad.
Once, Sumit saw him coming out of a mosque wearing a skull cap and white kurta-pajama. When Sumit tried to talk to him, Dushyant argued that Islam was the only religion suitable to follow. When Sumit argued against it, Dushyant got angry and left.
In June 2021, a Sikh man from Punjab moved to court seeking help after his Muslim wife and her relatives started forcing him to convert to Islam.
The plea said that though his wife had promised him before their marriage that she and her family would never force him to convert to her religion, he was pressured soon after the marriage to give up his Sikh faith. The family was forcing him to get his son circumcised as per Islamic custom.
Read the case in detail here.
In November 2021, a man from Delhi named Mohit registered a police complaint against his wife Sonia who turned out to be Nazreen. After their wedding at an Arya Samaj temple Nazreen’s family forcefully converted Mohit to Islam and they allegedly circumcised him as well.
There is clearly a pattern where Muslim women after marrying Hindu men start forcing them to convert to Islam. The local Hindu activists call it ‘Reverse Love Jihad’.
Leave a Comment