A Muslim man was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police for allegedly trying to forcefully convert his partner, a Dalit woman, into Islam, the police said on Thursday, The News Minute reported.
Iman Hameef, 21, has also been accused of assaulting and blackmailing his partner, who lived with him in Tamil Nadu’s Tirupur city.
The police in Tirupur registered a first information report against Hameef on May 5 based on a complaint by the woman, The News Minute reported. He was arrested on May 11 and sent to judicial custody.
The woman is originally from Thirumanilayure in Karur district and moved in with Hameef in Tirupur, where he was working at a undergarment manufacturing unit.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that Hameef used to click her photographs without her consent. He also allegedly threatened to leak some of the obscene pictures in order to blackmail her into wearing a burqa and hijab. The woman also claimed that he forced her to perform the Friday prayers on more than one occasion.
“Iman had initially insisted on getting married immediately,” the complaint stated, according to The News Minute. “He said we would do a Nikkah [Islamic marriage] and told me he would enroll me in a Madrassa [Islamic school]. I resisted these plans.”
The complaint alleged that Hameef used to assault the woman after being inebriated and use casteist slurs against her, a senior police official told the Hindustan Times.
“Fearing for my life, I went back to my home town [in Karur district] around Diwali in 2021,” the complaint added.
Hameef allegedly refused to return the woman’s Aadhar card and education certificates. Instead, he would share the pictures he took of her with her family, friends and relatives. He also allegedly uploaded some of the photographs on his Instagram account after she refused to convert to Islam, the FIR stated.
“He has been calling my parents and relatives and threatening to kill me,” the woman alleged in her complaint, according to the Hindustan Times.
Hameef has been booked under Sections 354A (sexual harassment, request for sexual favours or showing pornography) and 506 (I) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code along with Section 3 (i) (intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe) under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, according to The News Minute.
He has also been booked under sections of the Information Technology Act.
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