Man, parents booked under Madhya Pradesh’s anti-conversion law

Police said they were investigating the matter while the three accused were absconding. The three have been also booked under the Indian Penal Code’s section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 420 (fraud), and 506 (criminal intimidation)

A 25-year-old man and his parents have been booked under Madhya Pradesh’s anti-conversion law for allegedly forcing the former’s wife to change her religion, a police officer said on Wednesday.

Representational Image. (File photo)

Rajeev Uike, a local police officer, said Irfan Khan, a resident of Agar Malwa district’s Susner town, met his wife, who is from Shujalpur, three years ago and introduced himself as Rohan. “The woman eloped with him and got married in a temple,” Uike said. He added in February this year, Khan told his wife about his real religious identity and allegedly forced her to marry him as per the customs of his religion. “The woman refused to do so but Khan convinced her she would not need to change her religion.”

Uike said the woman, a mother of two, later started living with her in-laws and that they allegedly forced her to convert. “She was beaten up by her husband. The woman said she suffered a permanent injury in her spine due to physical assault. They locked her in a room but on August 19, she managed to flee,” he said. The woman returned to her parents’ house and later filed a complaint.

Police said they were investigating the matter while the three accused were absconding. The three have been also booked under the Indian Penal Code’s section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 420 (fraud), and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Madhya Pradesh is among the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states that have criminalised what they call forced religious conversion, including through interfaith marriages. Critics of the legislation say they are being misused to target Muslims and tend to infantilise women to prevent them from choosing who they wish to marry.

Vigilante groups have targeted interfaith couples and the anti-conversion laws were passed after a campaign against “love jihad”, the term Hindu groups use to describe relationships between Muslim men and Hindu women. The groups believe “love jihad” is an organised conspiracy of Muslim men to trick Hindu women into marriage.