On Wednesday, 24th December, a 24-year-old Hindu girl identified as Hema committed suicide after being pressured by a man to convert her religion to Islam in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district. The accused person has been identified as Gulfam. As per the Dainik Bhasker report, the accused developed relations with the girl by hiding his religious identity, forcing her to marry him, and also changing her religion to Islam.
Fed up with the constant harassment, the girl decided to end her life. The girl, a rental resident of Harungala, Baradari, Bareilly had moved to the district from a village for employment purposes. She wanted to support her family financially. She learned tailoring and embroidery through a skill development program and also pursued her Basic Training Certificate (BTC) to become a teacher.
In the meantime, she came across Gulfam who befriended her using a fake non-Muslim identity. He made the girl fall in ‘love’ with him. However, later he forced her to marry him and convert her religion to Islam.
Reports suggest that the family of the girl had recently fixed her marriage with a boy from her community. This enraged the accused who forced her to convert and marry him.
The family of the girl confirmed that the accused had been harassing her constantly. “She was happy with the arranged marriage we fixed for her. All the preparations for the marriage were also done. But she decided to end he life due to constant harassment by the accused,” the maternal uncle of the girl said.
He further revealed that Gulfam had initially introduced himself as Sonu to the girl and had concealed his true identity. “The girl had no interest in Gulfam as she was unwilling to change her religion. Despite this, Gulfam stood by his demands and forced her to convert to Islam,” he added.
Inspector Sunil Kumar, in charge of Baradari police station, confirmed that the woman, originally from a village in Bisalpur, Pilibhit district, died by suicide on December 20th due to pressures faced at the hands of Gulfam, also known as Sonu. A case has been registered against him, and he has been arrested.