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Man arrested under anti-conversion law
Agra: A man was arrested on Sunday afternoon, a day after a case was registered against him under the state’s anti-conversion law at the Sadar police station in Agra on Saturday night for having allegedly hidden his religious identity to marry a Hindu woman who he was now pressuring to convert to Islam, the police said
Agra: A man was arrested on Sunday afternoon, a day after a case was registered against him under the state’s anti-conversion law at the Sadar police station in Agra on Saturday night for having allegedly hidden his religious identity to marry a Hindu woman who he was now pressuring to convert to Islam, the police said.
Ajay Kaushal, the incharge of the Sadar police station in Agra, said, “The case was registered on Saturday night under sections 323,307, 376, 377, 386,392, 420, 427 and 506 (of the Indian Penal Code) against accused Arif Hashmi alias Aditya Arya at the Sadar police station. The accused has also been booked under section 3/5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 as he had concealed his religious identity.”
“The accused had married the victim in 2010 after the death of her husband in 2005. The victim alleged that she was being forced to convert from Hinduism to Islam by the accused, who used to allegedly realise money from her while threatening to kill her,” Kaushal said.
In her FIR, the woman said her first husband died in 2005 and later she met the accused Arif Hashmi who introduced himself as Aditya Arya at a party in Lucknow. The accused claimed to be a timber merchant and gave her a business proposal, which led to proximity between the two and led to their marriage in 2010, she said in the FIR.
“The accused then began harassment, both physically and financially. He used to demand money time and again and when denied, he used to beat me badly. Meanwhile, I came to know that he was not a Hindu Aditya Arya but was Arif Hashmi,” she said in FIR.
According to the woman, the accused later accepted that he was a Muslim and began forcing her to convert to Islam.
The accused allegedly demanded ₹60,000 on April 21 , 2021 after death of his mother and, on refusal, thrashed the victim and tried to strangulate her. She decided to lodge the complaint at the Sadar police station on Saturday and a case was registered late at night against Arif Hashmi alias Aditya Arya.
Earlier, in another case, an 18-year-old man was booked in Agra while five of his family members were arrested on the complaint of the father of a 16-year-old Hindu girl, who alleged that the man kidnapped his daughter and married her while concealing his real religious identity, police had said on Friday.
The main accused-- Qasim Qureshi of Nareerabad Colony in Agra-- was absconding while his father, mother, two brothers and one sister were arrested for colluding with him in this act, they had said.
“The parents of the girl, a resident of a locality within limits of Hariparvat police station in Agra city, lodged a complaint that their 16-year-old daughter was befriended by Qureshi who had introduced himself as Sonu Yadav. About 15 days back the girl went missing following which the parents launched a search operation. However, no case was lodged at that time by the parents. They later found that the man was a Muslim and had hid his real identity to marry the girl,” said SP City Rohan Pramod Botre.
The SP city added that the girl returned home on July 1 and said Qureshi married her and even impregnated her.
“Now, a case has been registered under section 120B, 363, 376 and 420 of Indian Penal Code besides section ¾ of POCSO Act as girl is minor. Because of religious conversion on ground of concealed identity, provision of Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 has also been added,” said the SP City.
