In yet another case of love jihad (grooming jihad), a 22-year-old accused Amin Azam Shaikh and his family of her trapping her, physically and mentally torturing her, and eventually forcibly converting her to Islam. The incident was reported from Mumbai’s suburb Mira Road in Thane District.

Amin Shaikh and other accused arrested

According to available information, Mira Road’s Naya Nagar Police Station registered a case against Amin Azam Shaikh, his mother Reshma Azam Shaikh, Kai Muftin Ismail, Jariyab Salim Sayyed, and an unknown person based on the victim’s complaint. The accused were booked under IPC sections 376(2)(n), 366, 323, 504, 406 and 34.

The victim said that Shaikh, his mother, and other accused tortured her physically and caused mental agony to her. She further alleged that they threatened to make her objectionable video viral to pressurize her to accept Islam. The accused were arrested based on the victim’s complaint and further investigations are currently underway.

The victim’s statement

In her statement to Naya Nagar Police, the victim said that she came in contact with Borivali’s Shahbaz in 2022. He regularly visited her at the computer classes she attended at Mira Road. Shahbaz introduced the victim to the accused. The accused and victim met a few times after which Shaikh proposed to her on 16 February last year.

Initially, the girl refused but the accused threatened to kill himself if she turned down his proposal. The scared victim eventually accepted the proposal. After a few days, he took the victim to his home to introduce to her to his parents. Some days later he called the girl again to his home under the pretext that he had to take his niece to hospital.

When the girl reached Shaikh’s home she found that he was home alone. He took advantage of the situation and forced the victim to get physical with him by threatening to commit suicide if she refused to accede to his demand. He visited the victim’s house on 21 June 2022 along with two others in his car.

The victim’s statement says that after she sat in the car the two men told her that they were sent by masjid authorities and she would be converted from a Hindu to Muslim after which she will cease to be a ‘kafir’. She says she was taken to a Kazi in Bandra who named her Rahima and took her signatures on three stamp papers of rupees 100. Shaikh took her to Hazrat Baleshah Sayyad Dargah and got a tabiz tied to her wrist.

The victim says the next day when she went to Shaikh’s house she learned that he was already married and the child he introduced as his niece was actually his daughter. After this, Shaikh and his family began torturing the victim. Shaikh locked the girl up in the house from where she was rescued by the police. Naya Nagar Police is now investigating the matter.