Grooming Jihad: Hindu minor sexually assaulted and forced to convert [ Madhya Pradesh, India ]

[ Reported as seen]

Mohammad Arwaz, introduced himself as a Hindu boy named Vishal to lure a minor Hindu girl to elope with him, later, he sexually assaulted her tried to forcefully convert her to Islam. The girl belongs to a Scheduled Caste community went missing from her house in January 2022.

The girl lives in a village in MP’s Khandwa district, around 180 kilometres from state capital Bhopal. As per official documents she is 15 years old. Arwaz told her that  he works as a house-painter, earns well and could take good care of her.

According to the victim’s family, she went missing around midnight on the intervening night of 17 and 18 January. The family suspected kidnapping.

The girl was found on 20 January. A man whose phone the girl used for calling up the accused from the bus stand, led the police to her.

In a media report, SHO Jamra said that the place where Arwaz met the girl was a Sulabh Shauchalaya Complex. He said Arwaz  was absconding.

Further in the media report, the victim revealed the story behind the incident.

She said she got in touch with Arwaz through a “wrong number” on 2 January 2022. When pointed out that news reports say she met him on Instagram, the girl said the reports are wrong.

Over the phone, Arwaz introduced himself as Vishal. The two got talking and became friends. The girl developed romantic feelings towards him. One day, he revealed to her that his real name is Arwaz and  that he had lied about his identity.

Apprehensive of her family, she tried to distance herself from him. However, Arwaz threatened to slit his wrist if she did not continue the relation with him, she said.

Two weeks later, Arwaz asked her to come to Khandwa to meet him.

On his directions, she packed a bag, took her school documents and left her house at midnight. The next morning, she reached a bus stand where she could get a bus to Khandwa city.

At the bus stand, she borrowed the phone of a passenger.

After the call, the passenger, Sachin, asked her if she was leaving home to marry Arwaz. “I replied – yes, I will marry Arwaz. He is a good man,” said the girl.

Sachin accompanied her to Khandwa and dropped her at her destination. Before leaving, he wrote his number on a piece of paper and handed it to her “in case she landed in trouble”.

After Sachin left, she met Sajid. He told her that he had come to take her to Arwaz. Sajid took her to a place that was lined with toilets. She said,“There were many toilets there, separate for men and women.”

There, she met Arwaz. Unlike Sajid, he was young. After Sajid left, Arwaz took her to a secluded corner in the toilet premises and began kissing and fondling her, she further added.

After it was over, she went to a women’s toilet. Sajid came from behind and grabbed her. “He held me by my waist. Then he began touching my breasts. When I tried to push him away, he told me that I am rather ugly and good breasts are all I have got. He then put his hands under my kurta.”

Arwaz disappeared after the sexual act, she says. “I borrowed Sajid’s phone and called up Arwaz repeatedly. But his number was switched off. Sajid told me that Arwaz had done what he had to do and is now busy with his work.”

The girl says that she requested Sajid’s phone again to make “a final call to Arwaz”. “I instead dialled Sachin’s number. He answered the call, but I spoke nothing, as Sajid was around,” she said.

The girl’s father is the sole bread winner and works as a daily wager. She lives with her him and 6 siblings.