Aligarh man beaten up on way to register interfaith marriage in court

According to police, a video on social media shows Sonu being dragged out of court on Thursday as the girl protests.

A 21-year-old man was assaulted while on way to register an interfaith marriage in an Aligarh court on Thursday, the police said on Saturday.

According to police, the man comes from Aligarh and had met the girl, who is a minor, in Mohali, Punjab, where he did odd jobs.

The two had come to Aligarh on December 1 to register their marriage under Special Marriage Act at a district court. It was found during investigation that the man, identified as Sonu Malik, is of Muslim faith and was allegedly pretending to be a Hindu, the police said.

“We received information that a man had been assaulted while he was on his way to register his marriage in Aligarh court. We investigated and found that there had been an FIR for kidnapping by the woman’s family in Punjab. He was pretending to be a Hindu. An FIR has been filed for assault for the attack in the court complex. We will investigate the incident,” SP (City, Aligarh) Abhishek said.

According to police, a video on social media shows Sonu being dragged out of court on Thursday as the girl protests. It was alleged that in court some people learnt of his identity. In one of the videos, the girl could be seen shouting that she “loved” him, while she was held by police personnel.

Another video shows the girl telling the media: “We had been speaking for a long time. He only told me that his name is Sonu. We came from Chandigarh three days ago. His family would always say ‘assalamualaikum’ and I realised that they might be Muslim. He wanted to register our marriage in court.”

As per the girl’s family, she had befriended Sonu on social media and later learnt that he belongs to another religion.

Her father had lodged a complaint with Nayagaon police, stating that his daughter, a student of Matric and a minor, had gone to meet her friend on November 29, and did not return home subsequently. The complaint states that the family could not find her and that an unknown person had taken her away.

Acting on the complaint, Punjab Police registered an FIR against an unknown person under IPC Sections 363 (kidnapping) and 366-A (procuring minor girl).

Nayagaon SHO, Sub-Inspector Jagjeet Singh, told The Indian Express that they found the girl from Aligarh after UP Police informed them.

“We got the statement of the girl, who is minor, recorded before a magistrate in Mohali. The youth would be produced before the court in the case lodged against him,” Singh said.

Aligarh SSP Muniraj G said the couple was thrashed by miscreants and a case has been lodged in the matter.

The case has been filed at Civil Lines police station on charges of criminal intimidation, rioting and others.

The girl’s father said Sonu tried to marry his daughter but was exposed. He said they will soon lodge a separate police complaint against him for concealing his religious identity.

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