Four arrested for ‘abduction’ after locals accuse them of ‘love jihad’
DEHRADUN: Four Muslim men were arrested after some local people in Bagwalipokhar town of Uttarakhand’s Almora district found them with a 16-year-old Hindu girl at a restaurant on Friday evening and accused them of ‘love jihad’, police said.
The locals along with members of some Hindu organisations handed the four men over to police who arrested them on the charges of abduction and molestation based on a complaint lodged by the girl’s father.
Some Hindu groups use the expression ‘love jihad’ to describe what they believe is an organised conspiracy of Muslim men to trick Hindu women into marriage and spread Islam.
A police officer privy to the incident in Bagwalipokhar said that of the four Muslim men, aged between 19 and 27 years, three belong to Haridwar and one is a resident of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.
“One of the four had befriended the minor girl through social media a few months ago. He along with his three friends came to Bagwalipokhar area on Friday evening to meet the girl. He called the minor girl to a local restaurant where its owner after seeing them informed the locals,” the police officer said, wishing not to be named.
“Soon the locals reached the restaurant and held the four men accusing them of love jihad. They informed the girl’s father who told them that the four men lured his daughter to abduct her. The locals, joined by some members of Hindu organisations, took the four men to nearby Dwarahat police station and demanded strict action against them.”
The girl’s father then lodged a complaint against the four at the police station, accusing them of abducting his daughter and molesting her. Inspector Ajay Lal Shah, in charge of Dwarahat police station, said the four were booked on the basis of the complaint lodged by the girl’s father.
“All four were then booked for abduction and molestation under sections 363 and 354 of IPC and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and arrested,” said Shah. The four were due to be produced before a local court on Saturday.
Earlier on Wednesday, tension erupted in Chamoli district after a social media post purportedly showed some Muslim labourers offering namaz on the premises of Badrinath temple.
Police then booked 15 labourers and their contractor, who worked about a kilometre away from the temple, under the Disaster Management Act for gathering at one place in violation of Covid-19 protocols. In their primary investigation, police said they did not find any evidence that they offered namaz on the Badrinath temple premises. No arrest has been made so far in the case and police were carrying out further probe.