In Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu, Rafiq alias Ali Khan, a Muslim ‘Aalim’ has been arrested on the accusation of sexually exploiting women by luring them with false promises. According to reports, Rafiq would draw them in by scaring them with ghosts before exploiting them. A victim filed a complaint, and the police arrested him.
An investigation indicated that Rafiq, a West Bengal resident, first attracted girls and obtained all of their information before physically and financially exploiting them. An investigation revealed that Rafiq, who targeted young girls and women, already had two wives. The accused always carried bones with him so he could deceive anyone.
Notably, while our report mentions that the man accused of violating women is Rafiq alias Ali Khan, the media, in reporting on this case, refers to him as a ‘Tantrik’ and uses terms like tantra-mantra. Apart from that, it has written Bengali Baba in the headline leaving the readers with the impression that the arrested accused is a Hindu ‘baba’ and conveniently covering up his Muslim identity.
Tantrik, Tantra-Mantra, and Baba are all related to Hinduism. Other religions have specific terminology for occult practices and occultists, therefore the right wing has long opposed using the term Tantrik to describe a Muslim Aalim involved in criminal activities. Despite the objections, the mainstream media is not refraining from using misleading terms like Tantrik and Baba for Muslim exorcists in such cases.
This is not the first time that the mainstream media passed off a Muslim godman as ‘Tantrik’. In February this year, OpIndia reported how Hindustan Times published a report about the filing of an FIR against accused Muslim ‘godman’ Abubakar with a misleading headline: “Tantrik booked for duping women by offering a cure for cancer, helping secure US visa”. The publication did not mention the name of the accused in the headline and simply wrote ‘Tantrik’ to perhaps ‘secularise’ the crime and give the impression that the accused is a Hindu man who duped the complainant in the name of ‘Tantra-Mantra’.
