Surat vendor arrested in anti-conversion case

Surat: In the first case registered in the city under Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, the police arrested a 51-year-old man on Friday for allegedly marrying a 22-year-old woman after changing his identity.
Accused Mohammad Akhtar Sheikh had developed friendship with the woman posing as Mukesh Mahavir Gupta and the duo got married in 2018. The couple has a one-year-old son and recently the woman, who sells snacks in a handcart on Ring Road, saw her husband’s Aadhaar card details in his phone where his real name was mentioned as Sheikh, a vegetable vendor.
She approached the Dindoli police station and lodged a complaint against her husband accusing him of love jihad. The accused has been booked under provisions of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act as well as various sections of Indian Penal Code including subjecting the woman to cruelty by husband, voluntarily causing hurt, intentionally insult, criminal intimidation, marrying again, criminal breach of trust and cheating.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that the accused met her in January 2018 to change the mobile SIM card when she was working as telecaller with a mobile service provider. The accused introduced himself as Mukesh. The complainant then asked him to help her get a few more clients for mobile number portability, after which Sheikh brought a few of his friends to port their numbers too.
They exchanged phone numbers and Sheikh told her that he is a railway employee and unmarried. They developed a friendship and after a few weeks when Sheikh proposed her for marriage, her family too agreed.
The woman continued staying with her parents after marriage while Sheikh would visit her often. After she noticed his Aadhaar card image in his mobile phone, she questioned him about it when Sheikh told her that she will have to convert and also adopt life of the women of their community. She was forced to wear burqa and also follow other rituals. The complainant also came to know that Sheikh was already married.
“The accused was arrested following the complaint. The woman claimed that she has been tortured since she came to know about the religion of the accused,” said a police official at Dindoli police station.