“I was beaten. His mother, aunt and other family members tortured me. They kept me hostage for months and also assaulted me with lit cigarettes,” disclosed a 21-year-old recently rescued victim of Love Jihad from Manchar in the state of Maharashtra.
In a dreadful case of Love Jihad, on May 20, Maharashtra Police filed an FIR and arrested one Muslim person named Javed Sheikh (22) for abducting a minor Hindu girl, sexually assaulting her and then forcefully marrying her in the Manchar city of Pune, Maharashtra. The accused has been booked under sections 363 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 4, 6, 8, 10 of the POCSO Act. The victim was 16-years-old when she was abducted and raped.
The victim was abducted and raped by Javed when she was a minor
The case dates back to the year 2019, when the victim had just finished her last examination for 10th standard under SSC Board. She returned home after her exam but later in the afternoon could not be found anywhere by her parents and her elder sister. The father of the girl then immediately filed a missing person complaint against an ‘unidentified person’ and claimed that his daughter was kidnapped. He also asked the Taluka police to find the girl.
Years passed but the administration failed at searching for the girl. The family members of the girl meanwhile were also conducting search for the missing Hindu girl and the boy who abducted her. The father of the girl also wrote several letters to the administration to seek an investigation into the case but to no avail. During this, they discovered that their daughter was kidnapped by a Muslim person identified as Javed Sheikh. He had trapped the girl in a love affair and then abducted her.
The parents and other family members of the Hindu victim girl were scared and didn’t want society to know that their daughter was missing, so they decided to keep shut. But they were secretly making efforts to search for the girl.
The girl was rescued on May 16 by her brother and his friends
As per the information provided by the sources to OpIndia, the brother of the victim girl recently discussed the matter with his friends who apparently helped the family to find the girl. They further discovered that Javed was a resident of their town, Manchar and that it would be easy to locate him within the locality.
The boys (brother of the victim and his friends) began looking for Javed. They notably located the premises in which he stays and observed the house for weeks. They also inquired the neighbours of the suspected house to know whether they had seen a new girl in the area. The neighbours happened to agree that they had seen a new girl in their neighbour’s house (Javed’s house) but they claimed that she was their newly added family member, the sources said.
It is then that the family members of the victim knew that their daughter was forcefully married and tortured by the family members of the accused. The girl was finally rescued earlier this month (May 16) by her brother and his friends and was brought home. She said that she was brutally treated and assaulted by Javed and his family members. She also said that she was raped and was kept hostage for months in an apartment.
The girl has been diagnosed with severe depression and is scared even to be around people including her family members. The complaint filed by the family members on May 20 this year clearly states that the girl confessed to have been kidnapped by Javed in the year 2019. The girl also said that the accused promised to marry her and then established sexual relations with her against her will.
Marriage document indicates conversion of the victim
However, the boy married the girl in December 2020 as per Islamic rituals and the legal document (Nikahnama) of the event has been accessed by OpIndia. The age of the girl in the document was reported to be 18 and that of Javed 21.
Notably, as per the Aadhaar card copies obtained, the Hindu victim girl is 2002 born and the accused Javed is 2001 born. Considering that, the age of the girl though was 18 during the marriage, the age of the accused was falsely shown as 21, when in fact he was just 19 years old. In India, a boy must be 21 years old to legally marry.
Further the ‘Nikahnama’ also states that the duo getting married are ‘adults’ and Muslims by religion. This indicates that the girl was also forced to convert her religion to Islam before marriage. In the videos obtained by OpIndia, the girl could also be seen wearing a burqa. However, no confirmation regarding this could be obtained.
The depressed victim confirms being assaulted by family members of Javed
Some videos of the girl talking to local activists were made available to OpIndia. The girl in the video confessed that she was tortured and beaten by the family members of the victim. She also could be seen fearing to be around people, even her family members, which is one of the crucial symptoms of depression.
“They tortured me. Hit me. Abused me with lit cigarettes. His family members assaulted me. They kept me hostage for months. They established sexual relations with me without my will. Asma, Javed, his mother, grandmother thrashed me,” the girl reiterated.
Sources also claimed that the girl was thrown into the racket of prostitution for around 6 months and was given bruises from lit cigarettes. The images of the marks on the woman’s entire body have been obtained by OpIndia (attached above).
It is important to note that the victim girl’s father had filed a police complaint in the year 2019. The case then was filed under section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code. The father of the girl had also written several letters to the Pune Police demanding investigation into the case.
Police confirm arrest of the accused to OpIndia
OpIndia talked to the API Bhalekar of the Manchar Police Station who confirmed that the case was long pending from the year 2019. He also said that the accused had been arrested on May 17 this year.
“The recent FIR in the case was filed on May 20. But the accused has been arrested on May 17. This is an old case from the year 2019 and that the girl has been rescued. We request to please not make public the identity of the victim. Further investigations are underway,” he said.
Team OpIndia meanwhile also talked to brother of the victim, Avinash. He confirmed the incident and said that he along with his friends, mother and wife rescued the victim on May 16. “She is now at home and she is safe,” he said. Sources meanwhile say that the family members of the victim girl want all the members of Javed’s family arrested as they all have tortured the victim together. “They have ruined her life”, they say.
The Police have arrested the accused and booked him under sections 363 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 4, 6, 8, 10 of the POCSO Act. Further investigations are underway.
