Love-Jihad : Maharashtra girl alleges torture and conversion in Uttar Pradesh

Bhadrapad Shuklapaksha 5, Kaliyug Varsha 5116

Three cases of alleged forced conversion, including one in which a minor girl is said to be kidnapped, were reported in as many days following which the Uttar Pradesh Police initiated action against the accused.

In Lucknow, the police arrested Khalid Anwar on Thursday evening after a girl from Nashik alleged that he had kept his identity under wraps and introduced himself as 'Aryan' before marrying her.

"I was preparing to join the Home Guards and he was working there as fitness instructor. I came to know that he was a Muslim when I reached his home in Sultanpur after our marriage three months ago. He tortured me to forcibly convert to Islam. My in-laws used to switch on a huge air-cooler so that outsiders were unable to hear my wails," she told the police.

SP Rajesh Kumar said that the probe was further on after the arrest of Anwar.

A woman from Cooch Behar in West Bengal alleged that her husband Mohammad Umardaraz and her in-laws used to torture her whenever she did not observe namaz. "We fell in love and I didn't reveal to my parents that he was a Muslim. We got married as per Hindu rituals. We left Cooch Behar two months ago and started living in Ghaziabad's Sahibabad area. He and his parents forced me to accept Islam. But it did not end there…They used to torture me and force me to offer namaz," she alleged.

The police arrested Umardaraz and found that he was already married. "We have arrested the accused and his father," SP of Rural Ghaziabad, Jagdish Sharma said.

The third case is from Baghpat where the parents of a 15-year-old girl received a "nikahnama" of their daughter on Wednesday. "My daughter was kidnapped from Loni where I used to work as a labourer. A youth lured my daughter and kidnapped her with the help of his elder brother. I received the photocopy of the nikahnama through post on Wednesday. My daughter is only 15 and this marriage is illegal," the father said.

Meanwhile, religious leaders have extended their support to the right-wing organisations in their fight against 'love jihad'. "There are many instances of forced conversion to assume that 'love jihad' is going on in the country. We are chalking out a plan to end this menace," Maha-Mandaleshwar of Juna Akhara Mahanth, Yatindranand Giri said in Muzaffarnagar.

Source : India Today