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Uttar Pradesh: Four Arrested For Forcible Religious Conversion, Marriage Of 16-Year-Old Boy
Writer: Mrinalini Kaushik
She is a student of journalism, keen on learning new ways to unlearn, deconstructing news and life. Interested in exploring new media as medium is the message. Avid follower of sports and politics
Uttar Pradesh, 26 May 2022 9:40 AM GMT
Editor : Shiva Chaudhary |
A post-graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication with relevant skills, specialising in content editing & writing. I believe in the precise dissemination of information based on facts to the public.
Creatives : Shiva Chaudhary
A post-graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication with relevant skills, specialising in content editing & writing. I believe in the precise dissemination of information based on facts to the public.
The boy returned home and told his mother about feeling dizzy from eating something at the accused family's house. His mother claimed that he was then forced to convert and marry the daughter of a Muslim family.
A 16-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly kidnapped, converted into Islam, and married to a 24-year-old woman in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The woman, her family, and a Muslim cleric have been arrested, as informed by an official on Wednesday, May 25.
For negligence during the investigation, two policemen were suspended, one of them being the station house officer. The arrests were made after a video of their marriage had spread on social media.
The right-wing youth group Bajrang Dal sat on a protest in front of Kakadeo Police Station on Monday, May 23.
Prohibition Of Unlawful Religious Conversion
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) BBGTS Murthy stated that the accused family, Mohammad Hanif, Jameela Bano, their daughter Simran and the Muslim cleric, Tauheed, who had married them, were arrested on Tuesday, May 24.
Under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, they were accused of forceful conversion and marriage of a minor child and illegal confinement, as reported by The New Indian Express.
The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act came to force in November 2020. It disallows conversion of religion by "force, misrepresentation, undue influence, and allurement, or fraud, or marriage". Furthermore, the person can be punished if they abet, convince and conspire in such conversions as cited in PRS India.
According to the new Act, marriage performed within these parameters can be declared null and void if its sole purpose was illegal conversion or the correct procedure wasn't followed as given in this Act.
Tracing The Incident
The boy and Simran had met online through a social media site where they used to chat. He had left for his home in Gorakhpur after working in a restaurant on Saturday, May 21. He returned home the next day and informed his mother that he was at Simran's house.
The boy's mother filed an FIR saying, "he was given something to eat after which he felt dizzy. He was then forced to convert to Islam and marry her," as reported by The Print.
Police sources also informed that Simran has a three-year-old daughter from her previous marriage and that her husband had left her two years ago.
Also Read: More Than 1.20 Lakh Fatal Accidents Reported In India During 2020: Transport Ministry Data
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