Bhopal: A young, interfaith couple who reached the Bhopal court on Friday afternoon to get married was attacked by the members of the Sanskriti Bachao Manch and the Vishva Hindu Parishad after news of the impending marriage was leaked from the court.
According to preliminary information, the Muslim man hails from Narsinghpur and came to get married in Bhopal. However, on receiving information, the members of the Hindutva groups arrived at the court premises and beat up the man.
Some members stamped his face with their feet, as captured in a video of the incident, accusing the man of pressuring and blackmailing the Hindu woman into marrying him.
After the attack, the couple was taken to Bhopal’s MP Nagar police station, where the police recorded their statements.
When The Print reached out to Akshay Choudhary, the ACP of MP Nagar zone, he said, “We have called a woman officer and are recording the statements of the couple. Based on their statements, further course of action will be taken. We will investigate whether the marriage followed the proper, prescribed rules.”
In 2021, the Madhya Pradesh government passed the Freedom to Religion Act, including provisions regulating interfaith marriages, with a view to curb fraudulent marriages for the sake of conversions. According to the law, the victim or her blood relatives or guardians can register a complaint against fraudulent marriages.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Great initiative from the VHP and Sanskriti Bachao Manch. The members must be commended for being alert and proactive.
Muslim youth engage in similar activities here in Assam. Most of them are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.