‘MUSLIM MAN RAPED AND FORCED ME INTO MARRIAGE’
Hindu groups protested at the Hindaun sub-divisional magistrate’s office in Karauli district on Friday, demanding action against a Muslim man and his family for allegedly kidnapping, raping and marrying a Hindu woman.
The groups handed over a memorandum to SDM Dulichand Meena, addressed to the governor, seeking justice for the woman and action against the man. Meena said the complaint would be forwarded to the governor and an inquiry into the matter would be set up.
The woman, 34-year-old Nirmala Pathak, hails from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. She said she was lured by Arif Khan, a resident of Hindaun city of Karauli district, in 2006 when she was doing her post-graduation from a university in Agra.
Pathak said over the phone that she ran away from her husband’s house in April and was living with her sister in Bareilly.
She said Arif lived with a relative in Agra and had developed a relationship with her on a false pretext. She said he told her that his name was Rahul Sharma.
She said he had kidnapped her and raped her, and shot video clips. He then threatened to circulate the video clips on social media and forced her to marry him. “He brought me to his house in Hindaun city and forced me to convert to Islam and we got married,” she said. The couple have a 9-year-old daughter.
“I tried to flee from the house for 12 years. He is threatening to abduct me again and kill me. I have written to the state woman’s commission, human rights commission, chief minister and director general of police seeking justice,” Pathak said.
“I want to get back my daughter; I want legal action against Arif and his family members who ruined my life. A few months back my husband started pressuring me to have physical contact with unknown men. Seeing an opportunity, I fled the house,” she said. Arif’s uncle Nafiz Ahmad, who is the deputy chairman of the municipal council of Hindaun city, said some people were trying to make the matter communal but Nirmal had married Arif of her own will.
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