New Delhi: In the latest misuse of Uttar Pradesh’s controversial new anti-conversion law, police on Tuesday prevented a Muslim couple from marrying based on rumors of ‘love jihad‘. The man, Haider Ali, 39, has alleged that he was beaten and tortured by police while being held in custody overnight. Indian express reported.
The Kushinagar police reportedly received a phone call saying that an interfaith marriage was to be held, with a Hindu woman who had converted to Islam for the wedding, and that was enough for them to decide to stop the wedding. Kasya SHO Sanjay Kumar Police Station said Indian express that the culprits were “malefactors” and that the couple were fired after the police realized they were of the same religion.
The couple were finally able to get married on Wednesday, after the woman’s brother arrived and made it clear that the family had no objections to the marriage, the newspaper reported. There is no law in India that says that a couple cannot marry without the consent of their parents.
Police denied the allegations of violence against Ali. “It was not like they had taken the couple to the police station in secret. Furthermore, the matter was resolved soon … There was no reason to hit anyone, ”Kushinagar SP Vinod Kumar Singh told Indian express. There is no law in India that allows the police to beat a suspect (or any other person) under any circumstances.
“On Tuesday afternoon, Shabeela and I got married,” Ali told the Indian express. “After the ceremony, there was a small party when a police team arrived and said there had been no nikaah. They did not want to hear anything and took us to the police station around 7:30 pm. They let the cleric go there after he changed his statement and said the nikaah was not yet final. “
At the police station, Ali said, Shabeela was sent to a different room before he was beaten with a belt. “One of the policemen asked another to skin me… I tried to talk to them… When Shabeela heard me cry, she panicked. The policemen asked her about her family but she was scared. It was only around 9 pm that I was able to convince her to tell the police her brother’s number. “
Later, the police called her family, who confirmed that she was Muslim and even sent her a photo of her Aadhaar card. “The police personnel were courteous after that, but they still wouldn’t let us go. They said they would wait for their brother to arrive. They kept me on the terrace in the cold, “Ali told the Indian express.
When asked if the police would take action against those who spread the ‘love jihad’ rumor and called the police, an official said no criminal charges were filed although the information was incorrect.
A local social activist, Arman Khan, said that Ali had approached him to ask for his help in marrying Shabeela, who had run away from her parents’ home in Azamgarh. Before the ceremony took place, Khan said, some Hindu members of Yuva Vahini approached and began asking the couple questions.
Mushtaqeem Ali, the watchman of Ali village (Gurmiya in Kushinagar) said that it was he who called the police when some Hindus approached him with the complaint.
Since Uttar Pradesh passed its new anti-conversion ordinance about two weeks ago, several reports have come in that the police have arrested weddings and harassment of couples, even when both parties agree. Last Saturday, for example, a Muslim man and his brother were arrested in Moradabad, after he tried to register his marriage to a Hindu woman. The woman repeatedly told police that she was getting married of her own free will.
The Moradabad case was the fifth to have been filed in Uttar Pradesh since the anti-conversion ordinance became law. Last week, a 21-year-old man was arrested in Bareilly under ‘love jihad’ legislation, while seven people were arrested and eight were registered in Sitapur, while 14 people were arrested in Mau and two charged in Muzaffarnagar.
In recent weeks, BJP-run states such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh have revealed plans to enact laws to counter “love jihad,” a term coined by Sangh. give birth costumes to describe an imaginary Muslim conspiracy to convert unsuspecting Hindu women to Islam.
Uttar Pradesh, which has a significant Muslim population, has been the first to pass an ordinance or executive order to address “love jihad.” According to the ordinance, a marriage will be declared null and void if a woman converts to a religion solely by marriage. Those who wish to change their religion after their wedding must submit a request to the district judge one month in advance.
The state cabinet passed the ordinance despite the fact that on November 11, the Allahabad high court denounced a sentence by a single judge that Prime Minister Yogi Adityanath had openly cited as proof that his crusade against ‘love jihad’ had merit.
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