A smirking murder suspect was arrested in death of a teenage Hindu girl who was burned alive as she slept, ‘by a Muslim stalker’ whose advances she had rebuffed set her ablaze, in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand

Ankita Singh, 19, died on August 28, after Shahrukh Hussain allegedly used an accelerant before setting set her on fire inside her family’s home, in Ranchi, in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand

Alleged killer Shahrukh Hussain, who is in his twenties, is a neighbor according to the victim’s father

‘He Was Forcing My Daughter To Convert To Islam And Marry Him,’ Sanjeev Singh said in an interview with local media.

Around 4am on August 23, while a Singh was sleeping near a window, Shahrukh Hussain allegedly poured gasoline over her, lit a match and threw on her

She suffered severe burns on 45 per cent of her body and succumbed to her injuries on Sunday,

According to the victim’s dad, Hussain had been harassing Ankita for months and threatened to kill her, the day before if she continued to spurn his advances  

Her death has sparked protests after Hussain, a Muslim, is said to have wanted to convert Ankita, a Hindi, to Islam

Adding to the pre-exiting tension over incidents of ‘love jihad,’ whereby Hindi girls are being ‘forced to convert to Islam’

A teenage Hindu girl has been burned alive by her alleged Muslim stalker who poured an accelerant – gasoline – over her and set her alight as she slept at her home in India after she spurned his marriage advances which involved her converting to Islam.
Ankita Singh, 19, succumbed to her severe burn injuries and died on Sunday at a hospital in the city of Ranchi, in the eastern state of Jharkhand, five days after Shahrukh Hussain allegedly set her on fire.
Her death has sparked protests in the state after Shahrukh, a Muslim, allegedly wanted to commit ‘love jihad’ by marrying Ankita and forcing her to convert from Hinduism to Islam.

Her death has sparked protests in the state after Shahrukh, a Muslim, allegedly wanted to commit ‘love jihad’ by marrying Ankita and forcing her to convert from Hinduism to Islam.
Ankita’s distraught father, Sanjeev Singh, said: ‘Shahrukh used to tell her – marry me, accept Islam, else I will make your life hell.’
When Ankita rejected Shahrukh’s advances, he allegedly harassed her on the phone for days and, on the night before setting her on fire, he told her he would kill her if she did not meet him.

In the early hours of August 23, while Ankita was sleeping near a window, Shahrukh allegedly poured gasoline over her and threw a lit match on her. She suffered severe burns on 45 per cent of her body and succumbed to her injuries on Sunday, a doctor told BBC Hindi.
Police have arrested Shahrukh and another man who allegedly provided the alleged stalker with the petrol used in the attack.

Ankita’s father Sanjeev claimed that Shahrukh had been stalking his daughter for more than a year and he would follow her as she walked to school. 
‘He kept on forcing my daughter to marry and convert for months. He was a one-sided lover, a stalker,’ Sanjeev told Swarajya news outlet.
Sanjeev said his daughter, who wanted to be a police officer, began to miss school to avoid Shahrukh but he would constantly call her mobile.
Protests have erupted in Jharkhand over the allegations that Shahrukh had allegedly tried to commit ‘love jihad’ by forcing Ankita to convert to Islam and marry him. 
The term ‘love-jihad’ is a term radical Hindu groups have used to accuse Muslim men of trying to convert Hindu women by marriage. 

Ankita managed to give police officers a statement from her hospital bed and told them Shahrukh had threatened to kill her if she did not meet him on the day before she died. 
She said: ‘He called me again around 8 pm on Monday and told me that he would kill me if I did not talk to him. I informed my father about the threat after which he assured me that he would talk to the man’s family on Tuesday. After having our dinner, we went to sleep. I was sleeping in another room.’
‘On Tuesday morning, I experienced a sensation of pain on my back and could smell something burning. 
‘I found him running away when I opened my eyes. I started screaming in pain and went to my father’s room. My parents doused the fire and took me to the hospital.’

The alleged killer Shahrukh Hussain, who is in his twenties, is a neighbor according to the victim’s father.
‘He Was Forcing My Daughter To Convert To Islam And Marry Him,’ Sanjeev Singh said in an interview with local media.
Ankita’s father claimed that Hussain who been stalking his daughter for more than a year, went as far as trailing her as she walked to school.
When Ankita rejected Hussain’s advances, he allegedly harassed her on the phone for days.
The night before setting her on fire, he delivered an ominous threat that her he would kill her if she did not meet him.
Singh who initially did not think the threats posed by the stalker were serious enough, but on the night he called in the death threat, he decided he was going to talk to Hussain and his family members the next morning.

Ankita Singh’s heartbroken family were inconsolable at the 19-year-old’s funeral, with her grandmother saying: ‘Now we only have her memories. This house feels empty.’ 
Ankita’s death has sparked protests by Hindu right-wing organizations who have alleged that Shahrukh, a Muslim, wanted to commit “love jihad” by converting the victim, a Hindu, to his religion.
“Love-jihad” is a controversial term used by radical Hindu groups to accuse Muslim men of converting Hindu women by marriage.
However, police in Dumka City where both killer and the alleged assailant lived, believe that the crime was not based on religion. According to Amber Lakra, a police superintendent in Dumka, the suspect had been calling the teenage victim in the past few days prior, and harassing her.
‘We are being especially vigilant as the boy and girl belong to different religions,’ Supt. Lakra added.
Thousands of women and girls are stalked every year in India, according to government data, and there have been dozens of cases of stalkers attacking women who have rejected them. 

In 2018, a stalker threw acid over a married woman after she refused his proposal on Valentine’s Day, leaving her permanently scarred.
The 30-year-old victim, from a small village near Jaipur, in Rajasthan, northern India, was working as a cleaner in a mall when the accused, Mehboob Khan, approached her with a bottle of acid in his hand. Khan had been stalking the victim for over two years and lived near her, police said. 
In 2016, a 17-year-old girl was set on fire by a stalker in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
In a statement to the police before she died, the girl said the man walked into her house in Villupuram on Monday, set himself on fire and hugged her, all the while saying that he would not let her live for spurning him.
‘She said he had stalked her for over a year and she had said no repeatedly,’ police inspector Senthil Vinayakan said. 
‘The man has been booked for a similar offense earlier and had even spent time in jail. But no one anticipated this and now they are both dead.’
A month earlier, a software engineer was hacked to death in broad daylight at a train station in the port city of Chennai. The man arrested for her murder had been stalking her for months, police said.