Shocking Ground Stories of Conversion
Primary research into thirteen documented cases of interfaith coercion and conversion by a Delhi-based academic group, with legal analysis.
On 27 October 2020, Nikita Tomar was shot dead in broad daylight outside her college in Ballabhgarh, Haryana, returning from her final year examination. The case drew noise, then silence. When the Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA) — a Delhi-based research collective of teachers, lawyers, journalists, and entrepreneurs — visited her family and began documenting similar cases, what emerged was not a political controversy but a pattern: grooming, identity concealment, coercion, sexual predation, and conversion carried out under the cover of relationship.
This book presents primary research across thirteen documented cases — Nikita, Tara Shahdeo, Sruthi, Rajni, and others — alongside a review of the legal framework governing interfaith marriage in India. The GIA's investigators interviewed the women and their families directly, producing records that vested media coverage had either distorted or ignored. The questions at the heart of this research are legal, social, and theological: what Shariah law requires of interfaith couples, how religious motivation shapes the documented patterns of exploitation, and whether the existing legal system is equipped to address any of it.
For parents, advocates, and anyone trying to understand what lies beneath the political noise around this subject, the documented testimonies here are the primary source.
-:ABOUT THE BOOK:-
What are the real heartbreaking stories of Non-Muslim women (and men) in inter-faith relationships with Muslims? What are the basic legal and social implications of such alliances that both men and women entering them should know? Are such relationships based on a premise of religious superiority and hegemony of Islam? Is there either 'Love' or 'Jihad' imbibed in such relationships? Were inter-faith unions a mechanism for the spread of Islam?
Can such liasions survive the pre-requisites of Shariah law? And is the overwhelming complexity and brutality of such relationships a manifestation of predatory Dawah? These fundamental questions are addressed in this book which is based on primary research by Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA).
Due to the rhetoric and aggressive discourse building on 'Love-Jihad' done by comprador media and embedded agencies of the international Left, genuine tragedy and loss faced by victims has been denied.
This book lays bare the agony of victims and families who have been targeted by predatory Dawah-a larger and more fundamental push for conversion by many means. This includes targeted weaponisation of love, sexual predation, economic exploitation, compulsion to fight religious wars (Jihad), etc.
Unless society and the law recognize the suffering of these victims, justice for these women is a far cry. This book is an important read for parents and youth as well as a call for recognition of the severe gender injustice committed against the documented individuals.
-:CONTENTS:-
1. Interfaith Marriages and Provisions of Law in India
2. Nikita Tomar:
A Case of Murder of a Hindu Woman for Refusal to Convert to Islam
3. Tara Shahdeo
A Tragic Tale of Falsification of Identity, Subsequent Marriage and Conversion to Islam
4. Lalita (Name Changed):
A Case of Weaponisation of Love
5. Meenu (Name Changed):
A Case of Religious Falsehood, Relentless Pursuit, Sexual Exploitation and Abandonment
6. Saumya:
A Case of Conversion and Weaponisation of Love
7. Neha (Name Changed):
A Case of Being Lured into a Relationship under False Pretenses, a Tale of Horror and Brutality
8. Aiswarya:
A Story of Sexual Exploitation, Gang Pursuit and Suicide
9. Kavita (Name Changed):
A Case of Identity Concealment and Exploitation
10. Priya Sharma (Name Changed)
Relentless Pursuit, Marriage and Rape in Faraway Lands: A Story of an Orphan and Her Ordeal
11. Christina Maria (Name Changed)
Relentless Pursuit, Rape and Exploitation of a Christian Girl
12. Sruthi
Story of Sruthi – Psychological Manipulation and Conversion to Islam
13. Rajni:
A Case of Concealed Identity, Forced Conversion to Islam and Betrayal of a Hindu Woman
-:PREFACE:-
On 27 October, 2020, Nikita Tomar, returning from her final year examination was brutally murdered in broad daylight at Ballabhgarh, Haryana. A bright star of her family, she faced no restrictions at home. Her family supported her every attempt to fly high. Yet her wings were clipped, and she was murdered.
A number of questions arose in our minds. The whys and whats were answered when the Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA) made a fact-finding visit to the victim’s house. This fact finding also led to more such cases coming to our notice. The GIA met and spoke to many women who had stories of grooming, pursuit and conversion to tell. What we unearthed were sordid tales of physical and sexual exploitation in which religious motivation played a significant role.
The Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA) is a group of women dedicated to the pursuit of research-based evidence and intervention on key social and political issues. Based in New Delhi, the group comprises professionals from different disciplines—teachers, lawyers, media persons and entrepreneurs.
GIA undertook a project to meet, interview and document cases that fall within the spectrum of inter-religious relationships. This is a compilation of such cases.
Grooming, Love bombing and Love Jihad are issues that must concern all communities, and the Hindus-Sikhs-Muslims-Christians need to converge to agree that radical religious pursuit of any woman is not permissible when the facade of ‘love’ is used as a pretext for conversion. This is pure savagery against women.
During this journey, we realized that not only are the women victimised in inter-faith relationships, marginalized by law enforcement and society but their bodies are also political booty. Their own stories get lost in the political din raised around choice in relationships. Very often vested media has tried to falsify these experiences through deceit and subterfuge.
The research and data compiling for this project was undertaken by Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar, Monicca Agarwaal, Shruti Mishra, Vijeta Aggarwal and Ambika. We are thankful to Shresth Tiwari for his research inputs into this project. Akash Vajpayee has also contributed to the writing of this book. Special thanks to Dr. Pratibha Singh for her contribution towards this project.
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