First arrest under UP’s ‘love jihad’ law: Father of accused, villagers say police orchestrated it all

After the UP Police arrested a Muslim youth, Owais Ahmad, under the state’s new “love jihad” law, his family members as well as several villagers including the village pradhan, Dhruv Raj, claimed that the woman’s relatives filed the case under pressure from the police and expressed surprise at the development, says a report carried by The Indian Express.

A report of the arrest was carried by the National Herald on Thursday, based on an FIR lodged last Saturday at the Deorania Police Station, also reported by National Herald, within 12 hours of the ‘UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020’, coming into force.

Ahmad’s father Mohammad Rafeeq (70) was quoted as saying that that the police had beaten him up as they looked for Ahmad. “The family members of the woman are nice people and we do not have any dispute with them. I know they did not get the FIR registered against my son… The woman’s father met me and said he would support me in the case. The police got the FIR registered just to gain praise and promotions. They beat me up and might be threatening the woman’s family too,” Rafeeq said.

Dhruv Raj said he had helped the two families settle the matter last year. Raj said the possibility of police pressure could not be denied as the matter of elopement had been resolved and the two families had no dispute any more

Among others who said they suspect police pressure were Naval Kishore Sharma, father of BJP Bareilly district president Pawan Sharma and a prominent figure in the village, and Narayan Das. Several others didn’t want to come on record.

Naval Kishore claimed the police had taken away the woman’s father a day before the FIR was registered. “Last week her brother came to me and said some police personnel had come and taken away his father. I said I cannot interfere. Next day I came to know there was a charge of ‘love jihad’ and an FIR. Later I was told policemen had taken away Ahmad’s father Rafeeq… Why would the woman’s father get an FIR registered now?” he told The Indian Express.

“Galat hua (This should not have happened)… It is all the police’s doing,” said Narayan Das, adding that the case would not just destroy Ahmad’s life but also the woman’s once her in-laws stepped in. “The woman’s father told me the police had forced him to get the FIR registered. He told me the police forced him to sign some papers and told him what story to tell. Now the police have put pressure on them to not talk to the media… Why would the father of a woman who is now married want to raise such an issue?” Das said.

The police denied it had put pressure on the girl’s family. Bareilly (Range) DIG Rajesh Pandey was quoted as saying that the ‘charges appear to have merit’. “Prima facie the allegations appear to be true”, he insisted.

Incidentally, the police admit that when traced and brought back to the village last year, the woman had denied the charges of kidnapping against Ahmad by her family, and insisted she wanted to marry him. The woman was 17 years old at the time. After the matter was resolved, the final report filed in the case said the allegations against Ahmad were not found to be true.