A 20-year-old male from the Baksa district of Assam was taken into custody on accusations of hiding his religious affiliation to trap a Hindu girl. The incident has spurred debate and prompted fears about the spread of the menace of love jihad in the area. The offender pretended to be a Hindu guy named Rana Saha on social media platforms to communicate with the victim, according to police reports.
Her family asserted that he created fictitious profiles on Facebook and Instagram to get closer to her. He was apprehended by members of the Bajrang Dal and turned over to the police at the Barpeta Road police station. A legal complaint has also been lodged against him by the female’s sister. A case (No. 15/24) has been opened by the police under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, involving allegations of criminal intimidation, cheating and fanning religious sentiments. Furthermore, the inclusion of charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act raises the possibility that the girl is a juvenile.
In 2019, a 14-year-old girl was kidnapped and sexually assaulted in the Salbari sub-division within the Baksa district by a young man identified as Aidur Ali, a resident of Salmara in Bongaigaon. He masqueraded as a Hindu named Rahul Nath to persuade the minor. The Gobardhana Police then arrested him on suspicion of abduction and rape. People living in the neighbourhood revealed that Aidur Ali used to call her regularly, and he took her away when she was en route to the home of her uncle after which he committed the crime.
The girl’s family members registered a First Information Report after she was rescued and the culprit was tracked down. It read, “The girl was on her way to her uncle’s home at Kalpani when Aidul took her to one of his relatives’ home at No 1 Salmara village of Abhayapuri of Bongaigaon district and raped her for 3 days.” One of the locals voiced, “We found several contact numbers of girls and their photographs in his mobile handset. We suspect it to be a case of love jihad. He has been targeting girls like this for quite some time now.”
