A 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur has claimed that she was abducted, illegally confined and subjected to multiple attempts at forced religious conversion.
A case was registered based on a complaint from the girl’s father and police have arrested the main accused, identified as Arman, IANS reported.
As per the complaint, the victim alleged that she first came in touch with Arman at Kargil Park in the Motijheel area. In her statement to police, she stated that the two of them become acquainted before the alleged incident took place.
Arman is believed to have asked the girl to meet him near the Namak Factory intersection. When she reached the location, she claimed that Arman was present there with two associates. They took her in a car to Motijheel before allegedly shifting her to a house in a Muslim-majority locality. The girl alleged that she was kept in the area against her will.
According to the complaint, the girl was repeatedly pressured to recite the ‘Kalma’, the Islamic declaration of faith. This was allegedly being done as part of an attempt to force her to convert to Islam.
After refusing to do so, the victim claimed that she was assaulted and branded with hot tongs. Besides this, she is said to have been pressured to consume beef and was threatened with dire consequences if she continued to resist.
During her confinement, the girl alleged that the accused forced her to sign certain documents. Further, she claimed to being threatened by them and being sent to Saudi Arabia. The accused allegedly warned of causing harm to her entire family if she disclosed the incident.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dilip Kumar Singh said that officials received information regarding the incident on June 27. Soon after, legal action was initiated based on the complaint submitted by the victim’s family.
“On June 27, information was received under Rawatpur police station limits that a minor girl had been taken away by a person from another community and was being pressured to convert her religion. Several other allegations have been made. The family members have filed a complaint against the accused. Investigation is underway,” IANS quoted ACP Singh as saying.
Later on, police took the main accused, Arman, into custody, while the allegations made by the victim are being thoroughly examined.