Bijnor: boy is in prison after being accused of trying to convert a Hindu girl by force
Bijnor:
Two teenagers walking home from a friend’s birthday party in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, were ambushed, harassed and taken to a police station in an incident that ended up being filed as a case of “love jihad“under a controversial new anti-conversion law.
The boy, a Muslim, has been in jail for more than a week after being accused of trying to forcibly convert the 16-year-old Hindu girl, a charge denied by both the girl and her mother.
The teenager was arrested by police on December 15 for a complaint allegedly made by the girl’s father, who claimed that he had used a false Hindu identity to persuade the girl to run away and was trying to force her to convert.
When a team of journalists met with the girl in her village, she appeared cautious in her responses, but vehemently denied that it was a case of so-called “love jihad“A term used by right-wing groups that allege that Muslim men enter into relationships with Hindu women for the express purpose of converting them to Islam.
“Around 11:30 pm they caught us, the villagers beat us. They accused us of robbery. They caught a child, I don’t know who it was, and they caught me. I didn’t know who the child was. It is not true that I was trying to convert me, “the girl said in a short interview to NDTV.
Her mother also backed this version, saying: “She was coming back from a birthday party. The boy said he would leave her. The villagers caught them, she said she was at a birthday party but no one listened to her. We want justice.”
The girl’s father, who apparently filed a FIR alleging conversion attempts, was not available for comment.
But the police claim that the girl had disappeared and was kidnapped by the teenager, but she “managed to escape.”
“A girl had been missing for a few days, they found her and a case was closed. The boy had given her a Hindu name, Sonu, and convinced her to flee with the purpose of conversion. She somehow managed to escape. Accused has been arrested, “said Sanjay Kumar, a senior police officer in Bijnor.
The police version is also questioned by the Pradhan or the head of the girls’ village.
“The police seem to have made up a case, there was no love jihad involved. The girl’s parents told me that she had gone to a birthday party. The boy and she knew each other, “Pradhan, Vinod Saini, told NDTV.
“The villagers may have thought they were thieves and told the police. They were taken to a police station. I received a phone call. I took the father to the police station. He gave a written statement saying that no legal action was needed. the girl home. Later, a policeman called and said to take the girl to the police station. I asked him why and he told me that a superior officer had called saying a love jihad the case would be shelved, “Saini said.
The Bijnor police posted a tweet to justify the use of the illegal conversion law in this case. “The case was presented based on a complaint from the girl’s father, his statement has been recorded before a magistrate. The accused has been arrested on the basis of other evidence as well,” the tweet reads.
In a village about 3 km from the girl’s house, the Muslim teenager’s mother is crying. “My son said he was going to go for a birthday. The next morning we found out that he was in a police station. I want him back, they also beat him …” he told NDTV.
Arrests under the new UP law have been highly controversial in some cases, with police arresting weddings and detaining newlyweds.
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