The police in Uttar Pradesh, Kushinagar, stopped a marriage function on Tuesday and took away the couple after a phone call claiming that a Muslim man was marrying a Hindu woman after converting her, releasing them just the following day after finding that both were Muslims. The man, 39-year-old Haider Ali, has said that the police personnel hit him with a leather belt and tortured him for a long time at the Kasya Police Station.
The couple eventually got married on Wednesday after the brother of the woman, Shabeela Khatoon, 28, came from the Azamgarh region and explained to the police that the family had no problem with the marriage.
Kasya Police Station SHO Sanjay Kumar blamed “miscreants” for spreading rumors about ‘love jihad’, and said they had released the couple after understanding both were major and belonged to the same religion. Circle Officer (CO) Piyush Kant Rai said they acted instantly as the atmosphere is tense and the administration is strict about such cases.
Denying allegations of torture, Kushinagar SP Vinod Kumar Singh said many senior officials, as well as the Local Intelligence Unit and some “respected locals”, had shown up at the police station after hearing about the case. He further said: “It was not like the couple was taken to the police station in secret. Also, the matter was shortly sorted… There was no reason to beat up anyone.”
Ali, who lost his first spouse 10 years back and works as a barber in Azamgarh, revealed to The Indian Express: “On Tuesday afternoon, Shabeela and I got married. Following the ceremony, a small party was on when a team of police arrived and said there had been no nikah. They wouldn’t listen to anything and took us to the police station at about 7.30 pm. There they let the cleric go after he changed his statement and said the nikah wasn’t final yet.”
Mushtaqeem Ali, a watchman of Ali’s village Gurmiya in Kushinagar, admitted making the call on a tip-off by some Hindu youths.
Ali said that at the police station, Shabeela was moved to another room and he was beaten with a belt. He said: “One of the police officers asked another to skin me… I tried to talk to them… When Shabeela listened to me crying, she panicked. The policemen asked her about her family but she was frightened. Only around 9 pm could I convince her to tell the police her brother’s number.”
He said: “Her family told the police she was Muslim, and sent a photograph of her Aadhaar card and even made a video call. The police personnel was polite after that but still did not release us. They said they would wait for her brother to come. I was kept in the verandah in the cold.”
SHO Kumar said they released Ali and Shabeela after she said in her brother’s presence that she did not want to go with her family and would marry Ali.
A local social activist who facilitated the wedding, Arman Khan, said Ali had come to him a week prior looking for help to get married to Shabeela. Khan was taken to the police station on Tuesday alongside the cleric conducting the function. Ali said Shabeela and he had known each other for “very long”, and that around seven days prior, she had run away from her home in Azamgarh, and shifted into his rented room.
Kasya CO Rai said they had confirmed that her family had filed a missing person’s report at Mubarakpur Police Station in Azamgarh after she fled home on December 4.
Rai admitted that after the police stopped the marriage function and took them to the police station, Shabeela had let them know that she is a Muslim and is getting married according to her will. On whether they would make a move against the individuals who had spread the ‘love jihad’ rumor, the CO said the information could not be right however didn’t amount to criminal charges.
Mushtaqeem stated that after some Hindu locals came to him saying a ‘love jihad’ wedding was taking place, he thought it’s his duty to send the information to the police.
source: with input from ians
