LUCKNOW: Amid controversy over the recent anti-conversion ordinance in the state, a minor Hindu girl lodged a complaint against a Muslim man, accusing him of forcing her to convert her religion if she wanted to marry him.
The case has been registered in Shahabad area of Hardoi district. According to police sources, the man was booked under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance-2020, the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Hardoi SP Anurag Vats confirmed that the FIR was registered against a person identified as Azad. The SP said that the minor girl had claimed in her complaint that she and the accused were in a relationship for the past two years and the man had promised to marry her.
The SP said the complainant had accused the man of putting the condition of conversion to Islam just before the wedding day on November 30. "The IPC section of rape has been included in the FIR as she alleged that the accused sexually exploited her on pretext of marriage," the SP said.
Ever since Uttar Pradesh's anti-conversion ordinance came into being on November 28, around 6-7 cases have been registered under it. Last week also, a wedding between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy was stopped in Lucknow by the police authorities despite the consent of both the families.
The couple was asked by the police authorities to approach the district magistrate and inform him that it was going to be an inter-faith marriage and that there was no forcible conversion. Last Saturday, a Muslim man and his brother were held in Moradabad after he tried to get married to a Hindu woman. The woman repeatedly told the police that she was getting married off her own free will.