BAREILLY: Four days after UP police registered an FIR against two men of the minority community, both brothers, and their mother for “kidnapping” a 28-year-old woman of a different faith, it was found she had eloped with her 21-year-old girlfriend and now wants to “marry her”.
After the woman allegedly went missing on May 26, an FIR was registered under IPC section 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her for marriage) against the two brothers and their mother on May 30 following a complaint by her family and some right-wing activists, who protested outside Aonla police station in Bareilly district, claiming it to be a case of “love jihad“.
On Thursday, police traced the woman and found her with her “girlfriend”. The woman, in her statement, told the police: “We’ve known each other for three years and are in love, and want to get married. We’re in fact waiting for the Supreme Court ruling on ‘same-sex marriage’… Since my family wants me to settle down with someone else, I decided to run away from home.”
Realising the twist in the case, her elder brother told TOI on Thursday, “Our parents died nine years ago and I’ve been taking care of the family since then. I’d ensured a good education for my sister. When she went missing, I thought the two brothers, who live in the same locality, had a role in her disappearance. So, we filed a case against them.”
He further said, “I have now spoken with my sister and her friend and tried to convince her not to take this path… It seems her friend’s influence on her is much more. In any case, we now don’t want any action against the brothers or their family.”
Sharing the case details, station house officer of Aonla, OP Singh, said, “The two women want to live together and get married. They have also submitted an affidavit saying that they are ‘living together on their own’. We will present the matter before the court.”
ASP (Bareilly rural), Rajkumar Agarwal, added, “After preliminary investigation, we found that it is not a case of ‘love jihad’ as some people were claiming it to be… The accused family named in the FIR doesn’t have any role in the matter. They have been given a clean chit.”
After the woman allegedly went missing on May 26, an FIR was registered under IPC section 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her for marriage) against the two brothers and their mother on May 30 following a complaint by her family and some right-wing activists, who protested outside Aonla police station in Bareilly district, claiming it to be a case of “love jihad“.
On Thursday, police traced the woman and found her with her “girlfriend”. The woman, in her statement, told the police: “We’ve known each other for three years and are in love, and want to get married. We’re in fact waiting for the Supreme Court ruling on ‘same-sex marriage’… Since my family wants me to settle down with someone else, I decided to run away from home.”
Realising the twist in the case, her elder brother told TOI on Thursday, “Our parents died nine years ago and I’ve been taking care of the family since then. I’d ensured a good education for my sister. When she went missing, I thought the two brothers, who live in the same locality, had a role in her disappearance. So, we filed a case against them.”
He further said, “I have now spoken with my sister and her friend and tried to convince her not to take this path… It seems her friend’s influence on her is much more. In any case, we now don’t want any action against the brothers or their family.”
Sharing the case details, station house officer of Aonla, OP Singh, said, “The two women want to live together and get married. They have also submitted an affidavit saying that they are ‘living together on their own’. We will present the matter before the court.”
ASP (Bareilly rural), Rajkumar Agarwal, added, “After preliminary investigation, we found that it is not a case of ‘love jihad’ as some people were claiming it to be… The accused family named in the FIR doesn’t have any role in the matter. They have been given a clean chit.”