On Sunday, Ghaziabad police arrested a man named Abdul Rehman alias Nanni, a resident of Ballia and currently living in Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad, for allegedly inciting and motivating two minors (a Hindu and a Jain) to engage in Islamic religious activities. A resident of Kavinagar police station area filed a complaint on May 30, alleging that his minor son has been converted to Islam.
Officials said that the plan was hatched by a Maharashtra resident, Shahnawaj Maksud, adding Rehman was helping him execute then plan.
Now, the Modi government has made major preparations to prevent crimes committed through mobile apps. Intelligence agencies have started monitoring more than 100 mobile apps running in the country considering them suspicious and used for illegal conversion and human trafficking. Sources related to central agencies tell that the crime network of such applications is more than 5 thousand crores.
There are many apps like Volunt, Ayat Gun Simulator, Team Fight, Riot, and Discord, which are suspected of proselytizing. The gamers are asked to say Quranic verses to move to the next stage in the game. In the process of getting answers, videos of Muslim religious leaders like Zakir Naik are shared, who get answers to questions as soon as they see them. Then in the end someone keeps in touch with them to brainwash them. As expected, a Muslim person with a Hindu name or fake identity gets in touch with them, and mislead them.
The modus operandi is very simple, the Gaming Jihad is being hatched to target ‘gullible victims’, that is Hindu youth. The culprits are using video games to lure them, brainwash them, and convert them to Islam.
It is said that these criminals won the trust of some children by helping them win online games. After gaining their trust, he reportedly taught them about Islam claiming that they would start winning games in the future. The accused reportedly asked victims to recite the Quran to win. In some cases, teenage boys who fell prey to this were also shown videos of Maulana Tariq Jameel and radical Muslim preacher Zakir Naik.
Now the names of these apps are coming to the fore. Many apps have become tools for human trafficking. Among these Jobin Abroad, Gulf Job, UK-US Job, etc. are prominent. Through these, people, especially girls, are given the pretext of jobs abroad. Many times people are taken abroad after extorting money and then left on their own.
Islamic Terrorists are running apps like Crypvizar, to remain in touch with each other and send messages. The network of terrorists and gangsters in the country has also become modern. When central agencies caught sight of some such apps, they were banned. But, the very next day they became active again with a new domain name. The names of these apps are Crypvisor, Enigma, SafeSwiss, Vikrami, Conion, Element, Jangi, Media Fire, Briar, Beechat, Nand Box, IMO, Second Line, Threema, etc.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) also wrote to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) to initiate an enquiry against online gaming platform “Fortnite” and instant messaging social platform “Discord” for their alleged involvement in religious conversion of a minor boy in Ghaziabad.
“The Commission has come across a news article, wherein it has been informed that two men including a Caretaker of a Mosque in Ghaziabad and a man from Mumbai were involved in religious conversion of a minor boy through an online gaming platform, Fortnite,” said NCPCR’s Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo in a letter to Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, Meity.
The NCPCR further stated, “The need to incorporate an effective framework to bar minors from accessing prohibited websites along with punishments is of utmost importance for the Commission…It is further to be enquired about the availability of such alleged online gaming platform over Android and iOS interfaces or on any browser…the Commission in best interest of the children deems it appropriate to ensure that best efforts are made to monitor the framework of such online gaming applications with respect to the restriction of the minor children to these platforms.”
In light of these incidents, the Modi government is mulling a ban on hundreds of gaming and applications, namely addictive games, betting apps, and harmful games. The objective is to address the concerns surrounding these gaming applications and promote a safer gaming environment.
