UP: Girl turns 18 and marries boyfriend she had framed in rape case under parents’ pressure

AGRA: Two years after a girl was emotionally blackmailed and forced by her parents to give a statement against her boyfriend, who was jailed for allegedly raping and kidnapping in 2019 in Aligarh, the girl got married to him on Tuesday, three months after she turned 18. She also gave an affidavit in the court, withdrawing her earlier statement and admitted that she was forced to give a statement against him by her parents.
The boy spent nearly 9 months behind bars and was bailed out in March 2020 and the sordid story ended on a happy note with the two getting married in a temple on Tuesday.
In the affidavit Khushi Pathak, who turned 18 on March 31 this year and is pursuing BCA from a private engineering college in Mathura, stated that Varun Agarwal, 20, is innocent and he did not do anything “wrong with her”. She admitted that she was in a relationship with Varun since she was in class Xth and the two had met at a coaching class in 2017. She said that her parents were against their relationship and had pressed charges against him when they had seen them together in June, 2019.
Khushi said that her parents had threatened that they would commit suicide if she did not give a statement against Varun. She told media persons that she would stay with her husband now. Before the wedding, Khushi went to the SSP’s office and sought police protection.
“I fear that I will be killed by my uncles, who came to my in-laws house last night and threatened me and my husband,” said Khushi, adding that she needs protection from her own family members. She added that she, however, doesn’t want any action against her parents.
Varun was booked on June 7, 2019 for abduction and raping his girl friend and was bailed out on orders of Allahabad high court in March last year after spending nearly 9 months in prison. “We were not in touch after I came out on bail as my lawyer told me the it could go against me and I could be against sent back to the prison,” Varun told TOI adding that Khushi contacted him and came to Aligarh a few days ago to file an affidavit in the court and finally they got together.
Khushi’s lawyer Chitranjan Agarwal said that the girl appeared before the POCSO court on Tuesday and filed her affidavit. The date for the case’s hearing is scheduled on August 2.