An interfaith couple, whose attempt to register their marriage was disrupted by Bajrang Dal workers on Wednesday, were produced before a court in Faridabad on Thursday but were let off after the woman testified that she was not abducted as alleged by her uncle.
Krishna, 21, who hails from Greater Noida, said she had gone to Meerut with Saddam, a 24-year-old labour contractor from Shamli, out of her own volition. They planned to register their marriage at a court there.
But before they could do so, Bajrang Dal workers reached the court premisesand tried to attack Saddam. The police lathicharged the Bajrang Dal activists when they turned on the policemen protecting the couple.
Superintendent of Police Man Singh, told The Hindu that the Meerut police handed over the couple to the Haryana police, who had arrived in Meerut looking for them.
According to the Faridabad police, Krishna who is second-year BA student at the K.L. Mehta Women’s College, became friends with Saddam three years ago when she was pursuing B.Tech from an institute in Greater Noida.
But the two remained in touch even when she dropped out of her engineering course midway to go and live with her uncle, who is a head constable in Delhi police.
Facilitating ‘love jihad’
After Krishna eloped with Saddam on Wednesday, her uncle reported the matter to the police and a case was registered under Section 346 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code at the SGM Police station in Faridabad.
The coordinator of the Bajrang Dal in western Uttar Pradesh, Balraj Dungar was furious with the police for “not cooperating” with his group. He accused the police of facilitating “love jihad”.
Second such attack
“We are proud that we did not let a Muslim boy manipulate a Hindu girl into marrying him. We would never let Muslim boys marry Hindu girls,” Mr. Dungar told The Hindu .
This is the second attack of its kind on inter-religious couples. It comes four days after a similar incident occurred in Hapur in western U.P., where Sangh Parivar workers tried to assault an inter-religious married couple living together in a rented accommodation.
Police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse the mob that tried to snatch the man while they were escorting the two to safety.
The woman had called the police against the “harassment” of Hindutva groups. The police told the Hindutva activists that it was not a case of “love jihad” as the woman married out of her own will and was living with him willingly.
