NB Twitter Scan | Shooter Tara Shahdeo's ex-husband Rakib-ul Hasan gets life term, had forced her to convert to Islam & tortured her

New Delhi, Oct 6: In a major development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court announced pronounced punishment of life imprisonment for her ex-husband Rakib-ul Hasan and ten years imprisonment for his mother Kaushar Rani in a religious conversion case. The then registrar of the High Court Mustaque Ahmed, accused of conspiring, has also been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

 

 

National shooter Tara Shahdeo was pressured to convert her religion by her ex-husband Rakib-ul Hasan aka Ranjit Kohli after they got married in 2014. In 2017, the CBI filed a chargesheet in the National Shooter Tara Shahdeo case.

 

Commenting on the issue, she said on October 5 that no woman should be assaulted or pressured to change her faith. "I want to thank the court and the CBI who served me justice. This justice is not just for me, every daughter in the country will gain trust that whoever does this to them will be punished. People who do this would be afraid to not treat someone like this. When my fight started, it was labelled as domestic violence. But my efforts were that this should not happen with any girl. People were hesitant to speak that word. After this judgment, they would come up against it openly," she said.

 

The declaration of the punishment by the CBI court comes days after it convicted all three principal accused in the Tara Sahadeo conversion case, namely, her ex-husband Rakib-ul Hasan and her mother-in-law Kaushar Rani and Mustaque Ahmad. It was in relation to the case filed by the national-level shooter against her estranged husband her mother-in-law and one other accusing them of engaging in multiple atrocities against her and attempting to convert her to Islam against her will.

 

 

 

Rakib-ul Hasan was found guilty under sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 376 (2) (n) (physical relation on the promise of marriage), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 298 (wounding religious sentiments), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 496 (fraudulent marriage ceremony) of the Indian Penal Code.

 

 

In 2014, the victim wedded Rakib-ul Hasan on 7 July, in accordance with Hindu customs. Notably, Rakib-ul Hasan had posed as Ranjit Kohli to trap the national-level shooter. However, on the second day of their union, Rakib-ul Hasan and Mustaque Ahmad, who served as the registrar of vigilance at the time, began pressuring the national-level shooter to become a Muslim and do Nikaah (Islamic marriage).

 

After discovering that her husband was a Muslim, the victim filed a complaint against Rakib-ul Hasan and his mother with the Hindpidhi police station on August 19, 2014, under sections 498A (subjecting a woman to cruelty by husband or his family for property) and 34 (committing any criminal act involving two or more persons with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

 

She alleged that her husband misrepresented his faith and misled her into marrying him. She also accused him of tormenting her for refusing to accept Islam. Mustaque Ahmad was stated as having conspired with the two to torture and force her to convert under duress. He was the previous Jharkhand High Court registrar (vigilance).

 

Tara Shahdeo was sternly warned not to apply sindoor or else her hands would be broken. Multiple Muslim clerics were called to convert her. She suffered severe beatings when she refused. She was threatened with the murder of not just herself but even her family members if she disclosed the torture she was enduring to anyone. The culprits also made dowry demands from her.

 

 

 

 

Her oppression continued for a month before she decided to break free. There were cigarette marks on her body and she was hospitalized after she was saved. Rakib-ul Hasan confessed to physically assaulting her but denied compelling her to change her religion.

 

The CBI took up the investigation in 2015, following a Jharkhand High Court decision, and a case was filed in Delhi.

 

On the basis of cruelty, a Ranchi family court granted her divorce on June 26, 2018.

 

In 2019, a CBI court in Ranchi framed charges against Rakib-ul Hasan alias Ranjit Kohli for allegedly giving false information about his religion while marrying national-level air rifle shooter Tara Shahdeo which subsequently ended in divorce. The court also framed charges against four others for allegedly helping Hassan.