A 20-year-old Hindu woman, who taught English in a madrassa in Uttar Pradesh, described to police how she was kidnapped in late July by a group of Muslim men, gang-raped and then forced to convert to Islam.
The woman escaped from the Muslim gang on August 3 after five days in captivity, during which she was repeatedly assaulted, given a Muslim name and made to wear a veil. She told police she met 20 other women being held captive. Following her complaint, police have arrested three people including her village’s Islamic preacher. The case has sparked fears in the province of an increase in forced conversions by militant Muslims.