The menace of moral policing of inter-faith couples by rabid Islamists is spreading like an epidemic across the country. Several dozen videos have surfaced on social media wherein a mob of Islamists are seen harassing, abusing and assaulting Hindu-Muslim couples under the pretext of combating ‘Bhagwa Love trap.’
In the first part of our ongoing coverage of this organised crime, Opindia highlighted 30 documented cases of such attacks on Hindu men and Muslim women orchestrated by the latter’s radical co-religionists. The targeted attacks have not ceased and many more cases have come to light since OpIndia’s last report.
Islamists attack random Hindu-Muslim couples
On Thursday (May 25), a frenzied mob of Islamists attacked a Hindu man for sharing snacks with his Muslim classmate.
As per a report by Times Now, the incident took place at an eatery named Gopika Chaats in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka. The group of extremists spotted the duo dining together and confronted them at the food outlet.
Once the mob realised that the man accompanying the Hijab-clad Muslim woman was a Hindu, they began thrashing him publicly. The girl came to the victim’s rescue and tried to placate the mob but to no avail.
Despite telling them that she knew the Hindu boy well, the extremists reprimanded the Muslim girl for hanging out with him. According to Times Now, the girl has filed a complaint with the police, following which a case was registered in connection to the case.
The police have initiated a probe into the case and efforts are underway to nab the accused. Meanwhile, the girl was forced to issue an apology by her family.
A similar case came to the fore in the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh on May 20, 2023.
The police have arrested four youths identified as Altamas, Mohammad Anas, Fardeen, and Bittu alias Aamir for abusing and attacking a Hindu youth (named Vinod), who was on his way to drop his Muslim friend’s sisters at their home.
The accused youths were acting as a group to deter Hindu men from roaming with Muslim girls. Following that, they would notify the Muslim girl’s family. All of the apprehended accused are Sherkot residents.
Meanwhile, police are looking for two more people who may have been involved in harassing the Hindu youth and the two Muslim girls.
In another case of a viral Facebook video, an extremist was seen harassing a Hindu man and a Muslim woman for hanging out together. “What is your name? Give me the number of your brother,” he was heard saying.
“What is your neighbour doing with you here? Are Muslim men dead…Why are roaming with him,” the Islamist warned. The other co-religionists accompanying him could be seen intimidating and manhandling the Muslim woman and the Hindu man.
The Islamist then grabbed the Hindu man by his shirt and shamed the woman for being a ‘namesake Muslim’ and hanging out with a non-Muslim. “He is my neighbour…If he is here with me, then, what is your issue?” the Muslim woman was heard as saying.
In a tweet on Monday (May 22), the Moradabad police informed that the Islamist was arrested in connection to the matter. A case has been registered at Bhojpur police station and necessary action is being taken in this regard.
In another case, a mob of Islamists was seen barging into a hotel and harassing a Hindu man for being in the same room as a Muslim woman. According to the Islamist propaganda account ‘Sasta Media’, the incident took place near the Bareilly Junction railway station.
A burqa-clad woman and her Hindu companion were ambushed by vigilantes at Ram Niwas Bagh in Jaipur city of Rajasthan. “Where are you from? Tell me…Wait, where are you going? Come here. You are bringing disrepute (to Islam).”
“Running away won’t help…This video is going viral,” the Islamist announced after recording the woman’s video without permission. The Hindu man, Rakesh, was threatened for hanging out with the Muslim woman. “Now, let me show you the way to the hospital,” he was warned by the Islamist.
In one video that has surfaced on social media, an Islamist was allegedly seen following a man travelling on a bike with a burqa-clad woman. He was seen asking the woman to remove her veil and show her face.
Upon hearing that, the victim tried to protect her identity. The incident is said to be from Hasanpur in the Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh.
In a case shared by one Mazhar Khan on Twitter, two Muslim women were harassed for travelling with a non-Muslim. A large crowd was seen surrounding a man and two burqa-clad women.
“Catch them…They are running away…Call their parents…Make a video,” the vigilante mob was heard saying. The situation had turned so volatile that the cops were called to the scene. The incident is said to have taken place at Gopali village in Deoband tehsil in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
In another case, a mob of Islamists was seen stopping a Hindu man from travelling with a Muslim woman on a bike. The duo was gheraoed and intimidated by the mob
Meanwhile, a man in a skull cap was seen removing the helmet of the Hindu man. “If you do not have money, then, take it from us and go on a tempo,” a man in the crowd was heard directing the burqa-clad woman.
“I am not hiding my face,” the victim was heard telling the mob. We do not know what transpired at the scene after the video ended abruptly.
Some burqa-clad women were seen reacting strongly to the vigilantism of their co-religionists.
“Video baand kar lo tameez mein reh ke…Oee baand kar isko…Nahin samajh aaraha (Stop recording me and stay in your limits…Stop this video… You don’t get it, do you),” the Muslim woman was heard as she approached the cameraman.
The video was posted by a popular radical Islamist Twitter handle (@AsjadR377), infamous for doxxing and anti-Hindu propaganda. He claimed that the video was from Rajasthan and that the ‘arrogant’ woman was caught with her ‘kafir’ (a derogatory word for non-Muslim) boyfriend.
Upon being chided for befriending a Hindu man, a burqa-clad Muslim woman told an Islamist to mind his business and leave them alone. “I am telling this to you again… Do not interfere in anyone’s life… Let them live the way they want and stop recording this video,” she was heard saying.
Islamic cleric fueling the ‘Bhagwa love trap’ conspiracy theory
The targeted attacks on inter-faith couples are being carried out on the basis of a conspiracy theory about Hindu youth entrapping Muslim women and turning them into non-Muslims. Opindia has reported that an Islamic cleric by the name of Sajjad Nomani has been at the helm of this dangerous trend.
The conspiracy theory started out in the form of a social media hashtag, which Islamists used to share videos of random hijab-wearing Muslim women and their male Hindu friends/ acquaintances and partners without their consent.
The posts were often accompanied by emotional messages and sought public help in identifying the couples. Soon after, social media was rife with videos of Islamist mobs ambushing random Hindu-Muslim couples.
This would then be followed by heated arguments, physical assault on the Hindu men, and even molestation of the Muslim women. The victims have been targeted on roads, restaurants, eateries, and even hotels.
Based on local reports and social media videos, OpIndia has compiled a total of 30 cases where Hindu men and Muslim women were attacked by extremists under the pretext of the ‘Bhagwa love trap.’
The attacks were carried out under the pretext that a sinister plot was underway to convert Muslim women to Hinduism by luring them into a love trap – a conspiracy theory espoused by Sajjad Nomani in multiple videos.
Disclaimer: Opindia could not independently verify the authenticity of all the videos due to technical limitations.
