4 men booked for stopping inter-faith marriage: Police

Police said a group of Bajrang Dal activists on Wednesday stopped the marriage of a Hindu woman to a Muslim man, terming it a case of “love jihad”.

Karnataka police on Thursday registered a case against four unidentified men, a day after a group of suspected Bajrang Dal workers stopped an interfaith marriage in Chikkamagaluru, officers said.

Karnataka police on Thursday registered a case against four unidentified men, a day after a group of suspected Bajrang Dal workers stopped an interfaith marriage in Chikkamagaluru, officers said. (Representative Photo)

Police said a group of Bajrang Dal activists on Wednesday stopped the marriage of a Hindu woman to a Muslim man, terming it a case of “love jihad”.

An FIR was lodged on Thursday based on a complaint filed by the Muslim man, Basavanahalli police said.

The man and woman, both residents of Lakshmipuram in Chikkmagaluru taluk, were in love and they had planned to get married at the sub-registrar’s office in Chikkamagaluru. A group of Bajrang Dal activists, who got information about the marriage, intervened and stopped the marriage.

Chikkamagaluru superintendent of police Uma Prashanth said the couple were not minors and an investigation was underway to ascertain the identity of the four suspects.

“The Muslim man and Hindu woman were stopped on Wednesday by the four people from registering the marriage. The two were then taken to the women’s police station. The girl was asked to remain there and the four men took the Muslim man to the Chikkamagaluru rural police station,” Prashanth told reporters.

“In his complaint, the man said the four people had stopped him from getting married and hit him,” the SP added. The SP said it was an incident of “moral policing”.

Meanwhile, the girl’s mother, Shobha, told the media that she was not opposed to her daughter’s marriage to the Muslim man. “If my daughter has no objection, even I don’t have any objection,” she said.