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Madhya Pradesh high court orders police protection for inter-faith couple
Dindori district officials demolished the house and three shops of Asif Khan, the Muslim man who married Sakshi Sahu, a day after her relatives alleged she had been abducted. The high court has ordered the police to protect the inter-faith couple.
BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh high court has ordered the police to not take action against an inter-faith couple on the basis of a police complaint filed by the woman’s family who alleged she was abducted and forced to marry a Muslim man.
Sakshi Sahu and Asif Khan had approached the Jabalpur bench of the high court to seek protection from the woman’s relatives and the authorities.
Asif Khan and Sakshi Sahu eloped from Madhya Pradesh’s Dindori district on April 7 and got married in a temple. Her family filed a police complaint under the MP Freedom of Religion Act, alleging that she had been abducted and forced to marry.
On April 8, Dindori district collector Ratnakar Jha ordered local officials to demolish Asif Khan’s house and three shops.
Sakshi Sahu later released a video message, accusing her family of levelling false allegations and appealing to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to give them police protection.
They also approached the Jabalpur bench of the high court.
Justice Nandita Dubey directed the police not to take any action against the petitioner on the basis of FIR lodged by relatives of Sakshi Sahu. “They will also be given protection, in case any action is taken against them by the society or parents of the petitioner,” the order said.
The couple’s lawyer Amanullah Asmani said the police and district authorities swung into action against Khan as soon as the complaint was filed by the relatives without any investigation and without following due process.
“The couple got married in a temple and they informed the court that they will register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act,” Amanullah Asmani said.
About 65 cases have been registered under the MP Freedom of Religion Act after it came into effect last year.
