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Rohtak coach converts to Islam to marry minor wrestler, booked for abduction
Police said coach Naveen Nara, a resident of Rohtak, was already married and had changed his religion to marry the 16-year-old girl, who is a Muslim
: Madhya Pradesh Police have booked a Rohtak-based wrestling coach for allegedly abducting a minor grappler from here and marrying her by converting to Islam.
“We are legally examining whether sections under POCSO can be applied in this case,” deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Riyaz Iqbal said.
Police said coach Naveen Nara, a resident of Rohtak, was already married and had changed his religion to marry the 16-year-old girl, who is a Muslim.
“Naveen misused a recent Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling which held that a minor Muslim girl can enter into a valid marriage upon attaining puberty, the age of which is 15 years, according to applicable personal laws in Islam, to save himself from criminal action,” said a police officer. The court had also said that such a marriage was not in violation of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
DCP Iqbal said, “the father of the girl informed us that they met Naveen in Rohtak during a wrestling event in July. Naveen started persuading them to send their daughter to Rohtak for training. Naveen also came to Bhopal in August to meet the girl but the family found his behaviour objectionable and didn’t entertain him.”
He added the girl’s family filed a complaint with Shyamla police station alleging that Naveen has abducted their daughter in a car. Police have booked Naveen for abduction of a minor.
The DCP said that during investigation, police reached Jhajjar while tracing the car used in crime and also Naveen’s house in Charkhidadri.
The police traced the location of the girl to Rohtak where he had married the girl by adopting Islam as he was already married and the girl was a minor, he said.
“Naveen also made the girl file a PIL in Punjab and Haryana high court for protection from her parents. However, the court handed over the girl to Bhopal police on December 9,” the DCP said.
Shyamla Hills police station in-charge Umesh Yadav said, “the girl had cited the October 28, 2022 judgement of the high court which said marriage of a Muslim girl, who attained puberty, would not be void in terms of section 12 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, to validate their marriage. We produced the CCTv footage before the court which showed that he abducted the girl from Bhopal.”
A senior police officer said that they found the girl living with Naveen in Rohtak but did not arrest him as they had filed a PIL in the high court. “On the day of the hearing, only the girl came for the hearing and we brought her back,” the officer said.
The officer said that the girl was not willing to go to her parent’s home and repeatedly said that she had gone with Naveen as per her will.
“After a lot of counselling, we handed over the girl to her parents on Wednesday. On Friday, the girl recorded her statement in the court reiterating that she was not abducted,” the officer said.
