Gonda: A man and his three family members have been booked here on the charge of him marrying a woman by concealing his religious identity, forcing her to convert and undergo abortion, police said on Wednesday.
According to the woman’s complaint, an FIR was registered and an investigation initiated, said Superintendent of Police Vineet Jaiswal.
The woman alleged that in 2017, she met the man who introduced himself as Vineet Singh and their relationship flourished. Police said they got married in a local temple following Hindu rituals in December that year.
She claimed that it later came to the fore that the man’s real name was Azam Hasan Sheikh. The complainant stated that the family took her to their home in West Bengal, where the accused man’s father, Akbar Ali, mother Rashida, and sister Manuja pressured her to convert.
They reportedly took her to a cleric and forced her to convert and solemnise a second marriage under Muslim customs, according to the complaint. After finding out that the woman was pregnant, the family allegedly forced her to undergo an abortion, it added.
Superintendent of Police Jaiswal said the woman later managed to escape and return to Gonda, where she received medical treatment and began living with her parents.
She further alleged that on July 29, Azam attempted blackmail by threatening her over the phone to leak private photos. He also allegedly contacted her friends, falsely claiming that she had willingly accepted Islam, thereby damaging her social reputation.
Based on her complaint, an FIR was registered last Friday against all four named accused under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita along with provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.
An investigation is underway, the police added.
