A shocking incident that is eerily similar to The Kerala Story has surfaced in the Uttar Pradesh district of Meerut. Here, a Muslim man named Asif who is a tile mason by profession and a resident of Daurala, has been arrested for abducting a Hindu girl. She is a college student and reportedly met him through a Muslim friend of hers.
Hindu organisations have charged the accused with holding the victim in a madrassa as part of an attempt to convert her to Islam. However, she has now been recovered by the police and further legal action is underway while the matter is being investigated.
This case is associated with Meerut’s Daurala police station neighbourhood. The girl’s father reported the incident to the police on 26 July. He stated that his daughter had left the day before, on 24 July, to attend the Jain Degree College in Khatauli, Muzaffarnagar, but she never showed up there.
Her whereabouts were unknown despite his intensive search efforts. The complainant mentioned that she used to receive calls from a boy on her phone. The complainant further charged that her Muslim friend was fully aware of the entire situation.
He feared something untoward might happen to his daughter and demanded action from the police. The latter opened an inquiry into the instance by filing a case under section 366 (Kidnapping, abducting, inducing a woman to compel her to marriage against her will, seduced to illicit intercourse, etc) of the Indian Penal Code. OpIndia has a copy of the complaint.
Hindu groups referred to the occurrence as love jihad when they learnt about the alarming incident. There was a ruckus at the police station during the recounting of the issue. The authorities learned that both the perpetrator and the girl were adults during the course of their probe.
The number provided by the father in the First Information Report was revealed to be that of the offender during the inquiry. He and the girl knew each other for the past year. The girl was planning on getting married somewhere else and therefore, he took her to Chandigarh on 25 July. She had left her phone at home and he purchased her a new one there. Notably, despite numerous conspiracies, the police managed to find him.
According to the available information, both were about to get married soon. Some locals from Khatauli had also been apprehended by the police for questioning. The girl will be presented in court for additional proceedings as revealed by Piyush Singh, Superintendent of Police, City of Meerut. The police will take further action in light of the testimonies submitted in court.
