Just a couple of days after a 25-year-old Muslim man wrongfully induced a minor girl aged 16 to run away from her home, the UP police apprehended the two, bring the man back to Amroha in handcuffs. The minor girl was given the “protective custody” of a policewoman.
The 25-year-old Muslim carpenter has been booked by the police under the state’s anti-conversion law which came into force last year. The anti-conversion law is expressly aimed at preventing forced conversions under the pretext of love and marriage. This practice is also termed “Grooming Jihad”.
According to the Police, the minor girl claimed that Afzal, the accused’s real name, had “lured her” claiming that he was a Hindu named Arman Kohli. Afzal is a resident of Sambhal and was arrested from Delhi’s Usmanpur area. He had planned to go to a relative’s house with the minor girl. Afzal is now languishing in jail.
The SHO of Hasanpur Kotwali, Sanjay Tomar, told TOI, “A complaint was registered regarding a man abducting a 16-year-old girl two days ago. An FIR was registered against the accused under IPC section 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc) and under state anti-conversion law 2020.”
“During questioning, the minor girl told police that they were in contact for the last few months. She said that the man “lured” her by saying that his name was Arman Kohli, and he was a Hindu. She also said that Afzal tried to convert her,” the SHO added.
According to the girl’s family, the minor girl disappeared two days ago after she left home for some work but never came back. Later on, the locals informed the family about seeing the minor girl with a man.
This case is yet another example of Grooming Jihad, where a Muslim man pretends to be a Hindu in order to forcefully convert their spouse at a later date under a wrongful pretext. In order to guard against this, the Yogi Government passed the Vidhi Virudh Dharmantaran 2020 law against forced conversions.