FIR filed after Hindu Yuva Vahini forcibly stop inter-faith marriage in Moradabad

“We have lodged an FIR against the man under IPC sections 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage) and sections 3-5 of the UP Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. The man has been allowed to live with his family while we are investigating the case, and the woman has been handed over to her family in Ludhiana. We will take suitable legal action once our inquiry is completed,” said Sagar Jain, Deputy SP, Civil Lines, Moradabad, where the case is registered.

When asked why sections of the anti-conversion law were invoked against the man, a police officer said, “Prima facie, the law has been violated. Our probe is still on.”

On Monday afternoon, a group of Vahini members accosted the couple outside the collectorate compound and accused the man of love jihad. The couple were later handed over to the Moradabad police while the Vahini members raised slogans of Jai Shri Ram.

“The couple were trying to register their marriage in the court. We got to know that they belong to different religions and informed the woman’s parents and also the Ludhiana police since a missing complaint had been lodged at a police station there by her family,” said Jain.

Speaking to The Indian Express from Ludhiana, Gurujeet Singh, the Investigating Officer (IO) in the Ludhiana missing persons case, said, “The woman has been handed over to her parents. We had registered a kidnapping case here against the man. We are investigating further.”

The Moradabad police said the man is a resident of Karula locality in the city’s Katghar area and earlier worked in a shop in Ludhiana, which was near the woman’s house. “They got into a relationship and the two eloped to Moradabad on April 14. They were trying to get their marriage registered somehow when the Vahini members stopped them,” said Ravindra Pratap Singh, the officer in charge of the Civil Lines Police Station in Moradabad.

Ankit Sharma, Moradabad unit chief of the Vahini, said, “Our members got to know that a resident of Katghar area was trying to register his marriage with a Hindu woman in a Moradabad court on Monday. We informed the area police and intercepted the couple outside the collectorate. This is nothing but love jihad which will not be tolerated by the Hindu Yuva Vahini.”