A Muslim teenager from Uttar Pradesh was arrested under the new anti-conversion law targeting interfaith marriages after he was found walking with a Dalit Hindu girl in the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. The Indian Express reported on Friday.
The incident took place on the night of December 14. The girl and boy, who were former classmates, were walking home from a friend’s birthday party when they were allegedly chased by a group of men. The men beat the two with sticks and forced them to identify themselves. When it became clear that the boy and girl belonged to different religions, the group allegedly rushed them to a local police station.
The Muslim boy was subsequently booked under the anti-conversion law and charged with kidnapping. He was also charged under the sections of the SC / ST Act and the Child Protection Against Sexual Offenses Act 2012, and is currently in a Bijnor prison.
The police claim that a first information report was filed in Dhampur on a complaint from the girl’s father. The report said that the defendant had “induced the girl to elope with him” with the “intention of marrying and converting her.”
But the girl’s father denied having submitted the complaint with consent. He claimed that the police had dictated the statement to him. “I completely trust my daughter,” he said. The Indian Express. “What wrong did she do? Why should it be part of politics? Is it illegal for a boy and a girl to walk together now?
The girl also denied being forced and claimed that she was walking with the boy of her own free will. “I have said this to the magistrate, and I will say it again, those men had a problem because I was walking with my friend,” he added. “They made videos of me and now they call it love jihad. I did not do anything wrong.”
Contradictory statements were also made about the age of the child. Although the police affirm that he is 18 years old, his family maintains that he is 17 years old, a minor.
Dhampur Station House Officer Arun Kumar told the newspaper that the defendant was in judicial custody. “If you are a minor, [the boy’s family] it will have to produce documents that prove that, ”he said. “We have invoked the appropriate sections in this case after questioning the girl and on the basis of her father.”
Father alleges town politics
Meanwhile, the girl’s father blamed the local pradhan in his village for politicizing the incident because he planned to contest the local body’s elections against him. “This is all politics,” he said. “They made videos of my daughter and falsely claimed that it was a case of love jihad. I have been pradhan before and was planning to race again. But now they have embarrassed my daughter and polarized the village. “
But the village chief denied the accusations. “I helped the girl’s father to present the FIR,” he said, according to the newspaper. “You must remember, hara hua pradhan hai [He is a pradhan who lost]. “
The ordinance against illegal conversions was enacted by Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel on November 28, days after it was approved by the state cabinet led by Adityanath. The law targets “love jihad,” a pejorative term coined by right-wing groups to advance the conspiracy theory that Muslim men seduce Hindu women into marrying for the sole purpose of converting their girlfriends to Islam. Since the law came into effect, the Adityanath government has launched an offensive against interfaith marriages in the state, arresting a wave of Muslim men.
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‘Love jihad’: 14 Muslim family members arrested under Uttar Pradesh anti-conversion law
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