A woman from Lucknow has lodged an FIR in the Indiranagar police station against her husband Ashraf and mother-in-law, accusing them of running a ‘Love Jihad’ racket, among other offences.
The woman’s husband Ashraf, who heads the Khanqah-e-Ashrafia Hussainia Qutbe, a dargah (shrine) in Bengaluru, Karnataka has also been accused of trading in illegal weapons, harbouring foreign nationals and torturing his wife for dowry.
The woman, a resident of Lucknow, informed that she married Ashraf in 2019 and after that moved in with him to Bengaluru. His family was welcoming initially, however, they started to pressurize her into befriending non-Muslim women and getting them home, she revealed. The woman informed that she initially followed their instructions out of fear of losing her husband.
Ashraf forced his pregnant wife to undergo sex determination test
“Later, when I got pregnant, Ashraf forced me to undergo a sex determination test. When Ashraf and her mother got to know that the unborn baby was a girl, they thrashed me. They called my brother and demanded Rs 25 lakh for sparing my life. My brother paid Rs 7.5 lakh to them,” the woman revealed, as per reports.
Love jihad and illegal arms deals in dargah
The woman further informed that her husband and mother-in-law were running a ‘love jihad’ racket and lured visitors to the shrine to later trap to further their campaign. She also revealed that the dargah is a hub of illegal money and arms deals.
“Ashraf married a Hindu girl eventually and renamed her Madiha. She was later shifted to the shrine where she was given training in weaponry,” the woman added.
The woman who has now been ousted from her home said her husband and mother-in-law have threatened to accept her only if she coughs up Rs 17.5 lakhs and brings four non-Muslim girls for conversion.
The pregnant woman was forced to go back to her maternal home in Lucknow where she gave birth to her daughter.
ADCP, North, Prachi Singh said an FIR under the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020, and on charges of extortion and dowry harassment has been lodged which also names Ashraf’s mother.
