Days after Gujarat Police registered its first case under the new stringent anti-forced religious conversion law, the 24-year-old Dalit woman has now gone ‘missing’ soon after retracting her statement. As per a report by Free Press Journal, the woman, who had complained that her husband, Samir Qureshi, had forced her to convert her religion, has now filed an affidavit claiming she was pressurised to file fake complaint.
In the affidavit, she has not mentioned who forced her to file the fake complaint. As per the report, the sources in police say that her signature in the original complaint and the affidavit do not match. This happened after she got her statement recorded under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) before a magistrate that her allegations against her husband Qureshi were true. Soon after filing the affidavit in local court, she has gone missing. The police is currently looking for her.
FPJ quoted Vadodara ACP (SC/ST cell) DT Rathod that they are trying to talk to her to verify her differing statements. The police is not ‘looking’ for her like they’d look for an accused, since she is a complainant. However, they have informed her parents that she should approach them when she returns. On Monday, Qureshi’s bail plea was rejected by the local court.
Earlier in June, within 72 hours of the new law being enacted, registered a case of forced religious conversion. The woman alleged that she met the individual in February 2019 on a social media platform where he used a fake identity and lured her into a relationship. Police confirmed that Samir Qureshi had made his social media accounts under a fake name, Sam Martin.
Qureshi persuaded the victim into marriage by promising a ‘modern life’ post marriage. Later, he raped her on four occasions at a hotel as well as in the flat of a co-accused, police said.
