Sagar further stated that the group warned him against reporting the incident to the authorities, threatening him with dire consequences. He expressed concerns for his life and requested police protection along with legal action against the accused.
The deceased Harbans Lal, aged 79 years, had an ongoing dispute with his Muslim neighbours over the cooking of meat and wanted to put fibre sheets on the wall to keep the smell of meat out.
The PIL challenged an order by an Uttar Pradesh court that defined 'Love Jihad' as an act in which Muslim men systematically target' Hindu women for conversion to Islam through marriage and fraudulently marry Hindu women 'under the pretence of love' in order to convert them.
The family of the girl confirmed that the accused had been harassing her constantly. "She was happy with the arranged marriage we fixed for her. All the preparations for the engagement were also done. But she decided to end he life due to constant harassment by the accused," the maternal uncle of the girl said.
Following this, Abdul, Pappu and two others began thrashing the Hindu victim. The complainant alleged that accused Abdul hit him with a rod. Soon after, local people arrived, however, they allegedly threatened the victim.
The trio was travelling to attend a wedding in Faridpur on Sunday. Earlier, they had attended a family function in Budaun on Saturday night and took the Budaun-Faridpur route instead of the usual Moradabad-Bareilly route and relied completely on Google Maps.