The phrase “grooming gangs” was mainstreamed after multiple rape and sexual abuse incidents involving young girls at the hands of Pakistani Muslim men surfaced in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, despite the absence of attention from the liberal Western media, the same has been occurring in India for a long time. A slew of similar horrific instances from different parts of Rajasthan came to light, shocking the entire country and leading to protests and agitation in the state, where Muslim men preyed on women and schoolgirls alike, intimidating and even pressuring them to embrace Islam, seems to be the modus operandi of the accused in these cases.
Rape Jihad in Beawar
The initial information about these instances was revealed on 17th February when Beawar police arrested a group of young Muslim men who kidnapped Hindu girls and subjected them to sexual exploitation and forceful conversion to Islam. The accused were identified as Rehan Mohammad (20), Sohail Mansuri (19), Lukman (20), Arman Pathan (19), Sahil Qureshi (19) and two juveniles.
Hindu girls were taught namaz, and Roza and told to recite the Kalma (Islamic profession of faith) by them. They pressured the victims to change their religion, keep Roza (Islamic fast), perform namaz and even wear burqas. Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act along with other pertinent laws have now been invoked to charge them.
They stalked girls who were in the tenth grade at a school in Bijainagar, Beawar and took them to hotels and cafes. They would then sexually assault the girls after establishing contacts on their mobile phones, record the heinous act and take obscene photos and videos which were later used to carry on the violations. They also provided the victims with small cell phones. Sohail Mansuri, one of the offenders, handed over the same to a girl to talk to her. He often threatened her and even pushed her to introduce her friends to Riyan, Javed and Arman who were his pals.
She was forced to don a burqa by Sohail, who also instructed her to observe during Ramadan. According to reports, he indoctrinated her into it. He put pressure on her by slicing her hand with a blade. According to the victims, the men would arrive to take them away on brand-new automobiles and motorcycles, including Bullets. “They once told me that a Brahmin girl would fetch ₹20 lakh if sold, and you (a Dalit) would get ₹10 lakh,” a victim stated. The girls mentioned that they were compelled to bring in other girls and were regularly threatened with graphic images and films.
A cell phone was discovered with one of the girls, which led to the discovery of the startling occurrence. One of the culprits reacted to the call from a girl’s family with threats and insults. The whole truth was unveiled when they hurried to the police station and lodged a complaint. However, the probe uncovered that several girls had been the victims of multiple Muslim men. They were also made to steal money from their homes and suffered through extortion. According to a victim, she was under pressure from the “Muslim gang” to visit the mosques and maulvis in the area.
On 16th February, the family members of three girls approached the Bijayanagar police station. Three different cases were then filed and an investigation was started which revealed the entire scope of the crime.
“When we inquired from our daughters, we came to know that there is a gang, which includes Sohail Mansuri, Soheb, Arman, Sahil, Luqman, and 10-15 other boys. They also took photos and videos of underage girls besides our daughters which were then used to blackmail them. The victims were also given false promises of erasing the objectionable material if they introduced them to other girls,” they conveyed.
The family members further informed, “The accused threatened and pushed the girls to meet with them. They are trapping our daughters in their net. They are luring them by offering small toys and mobiles. The same is happening with other girls in the area as well. They forced them to go to cafes and wear clothes of their choice. We learned that the girls were forced to introduce each other’s friends for physical exploitation by the accused when we spoke with our daughters.”
The complainants added, “They were also threatened with murder if they didn’t comply. We discovered that the girls had identical phones when we got in touch with the families of their friends. Likewise, they have experienced similar ordeal.”
On 23rd February, the police in Bijaynagar captured former councillor Hakim Qureshi in connection with the case, indicating that multiple Muslim groups were involved in this gang. He was reportedly aiding other accused and ended up on a five-day police remand after he was brought before a judge of the POCSO court in Kotda that same day. He was subsequently moved to judicial custody until 11th March. Three juveniles have been apprehended and ten others have been put under arrest in the Beawar case, thus far.
The situation is reminiscent of the 1992 Ajmer rape case, in which Muslim men from influential families attacked and sexually defiled Hindu girls in Ajmer.
Another terrifying tale of rape and blackmail, this time in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara
The methods employed by Muslim rape gangs appear to be consistent, as evidenced by various occurrences around the globe and another alarming incident of gang rape and blackmail in the Bhilwara district further underscored the same. Ashraf Ali alias Ashraf Lala (22), Sanvir Mohammad Nilgar (23), Shahrukh Khan alias Bablu Rangrez (24), Khalid alias Dulha (25), Amir Khan Pathan (31), Soyabnoor Mohammad Mansuri alias Soyam (22) and Faizan Ghori Mansuri have been nabbed by the authorities regarding the matter.
The authorities are currently interrogating the suspects while efforts are ongoing to apprehend others involved. On March 2, a woman approached the police station to complain, stating that in March of the previous year, she had visited a café at Badla Chauraha to meet a friend named Ashraf Ali. According to Station House Officer (SHO) Gajendra Singh Naruka, Ashraf Ali and his associate Bablu were already present when she arrived.
The victim stated that Bablu offered her a cup of coffee laced with sedatives, causing her to lose consciousness after consuming it. Subsequently, Ali allegedly took her to a room inside the café, where he sexually assaulted her while his accomplice stood guard at the entrance. Ali also captured explicit photos and videos, which he later used to blackmail and repeatedly exploit her. Much like the incidents in Beawar, Ali’s associates, Shoaib and Amir, intimidated her and coerced her into introducing them to other women. The accused also forcibly accessed her social media accounts.
Additionally, on January 1, a man named Sanvir summoned her to the café, where he engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviour. Later, on March 1, another man named Amir called her to Shivaji Park. Upon her arrival, he harassed and pressured her to introduce him to other women. Her loud protests attracted a crowd, prompting her to escape. She managed to return home and confided in her family about her ordeal.
Muslim grooming gangs in India
From the notorious 1992 Ajmer rape case, in which more than 100 Hindu girls were victimized by a Muslim gang led by Farooq Chishti and Nafees Chishti, members of the Khadim families associated with the Ajmer Sharif Dargah to the multiple cases of conversion of Hindu women to Islam, in the name of marriage particularly from Kanpur’s Juhi Colony in Uttar Pradesh, in 2020 reveal that despite differing circumstances and places, the underlying tactics, intentions and ideologies of the offenders remain unchanged.
The unending cases of love jihad across India, resulting in the torture and fatalities of Hindu woman also stand as another testament to the same. The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, the Syro Malabar Church and numerous other Christian organizations expressed grave concern in 2020 over the rising number of such incidents in Kerala.
The Christian organizations echoed the worries of Hindu groups which stated that there are forces active in Kerala that target young women, brainwash them under the guise of “religious studies,” convert them to Islam by force and then send them off to work as sex slaves for ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).
Muslim men essentially victimize non-Muslims, particularly, Hindu women and girls in one way or another. If they are not coerced or manipulated under the guise of love or friendship, more severe tools including rape, sexual assault and violence as well as blackmail are employed to create fear by these men.
Of course, their ultimate objective is to persuade or terrorize their victims into abandoning their faith and becoming Muslims along with using them as sexual objects for their exploitation. This also has been noted in several incidents, including those in Beawar and Bhilwara, two distinct locations with disparate victims and accused. These rape jihadis used everything from persuasion, threats to blackmail in an attempt to convert the Hindu women while also raping and torturing them. Their methods have been the same regardless of the victim, the location, or the year and even decade.
