Patna Court annuls forced marriage, provides relief to groom married at gunpoint

Source: indiatoday.in

A family court in Patna in Bihar has provided much-needed relief to an engineer employed in Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP) by annulling his forced marriage, which he had reluctantly entered into back in 2017.

“The marriage between the petitioner, Vinod Kumar, and the opposite party, Kundan Kumari, allegedly solemnised on December 3, 2017, is hereby declared voidable and accordingly marriage is hereby annulled by a decree of nullity,” the court order reads.

Narrating how he was forced to enter into marriage, Vinod said, “The incident happened in December 2017 when I had gone to Patna to attend my friend’s marriage. There, an acquaintance — Surendra Yadav — fooled me into coming to his house where he held me captive and forced me to marry his sister at gunpoint.”

Talking about the course of action he took later, Vinod said, ” I was beaten and threatened for marrying the girl. I did not accept the marriage and lodged a complaint with the Pandarak police station under whose jurisdiction the village came. The police, rather than filing my FIR, kept me at the police station for 16 hours. They did not cooperate with me. After that, I lodged a case at the Vyavhar Nyalaya and also lodged a criminal case.”

Speaking about the problems he faced in the past two years and about the decision by the Vyavhar Nyayalay, he said, “For the past two years I was facing a lot of mental torture. This decision by the Nyaylay annulling the marriage has come as a big relief for me.”

Jharkhand: Three men thrashed in Ranchi, allegedly forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, say reports

Source: scroll.in

A mob thrashed three men and allegedly forced them to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Ranchi, Jharkhand, The Hindu reported on Saturday.

Aamir Wasim, who lodged a complaint at the Doranda police station, said he and his friends, Altaf Ali and Ali Ahmed, had gone to the airport area on Friday to take photographs when the incident took place. “We were riding our two-wheelers and were in kurta pajamawhen some people besieged us,” Wasim told The Hindu. “Without any provocation, they beat us up and told us to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. As the crowd got bigger, we fled from the spot,” Wasim said, adding that security personnel near the Birsa Munda Airport rescued them.

Community members blocked the MG Marg near Church Complex, demanding that the culprits be arrested. The demonstration went on till late evening on Friday. “We have deployed police along the MG Marg to prevent further escalation,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Anish Gupta on Saturday. “Now the area is peaceful. We are keeping a close watch on the situation.”

A similar incident was reported in Barpeta district in Assam on the same day. Three youths were beaten up and allegedly forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Jyoti Gaon area, according to Northeast Now.

Wajed Ali, who filed the first information report, said four people on two motorcycles thrashed Rakibul Haque, Burhan Ali and Kurban Khan, who were working there at a medical store. “They also forced the trio to chant “Jai Shri Ram”,” Ali said. Ali claimed the four suspects verbally abused Haque and tried to kill him by strangling him.

On June 18, a 24-year Muslim man was assaulted by a mob and forced to say “Jai Shri Ram” in Jharkhand’s Seraikela Kharsawan district. He died four days later. On June 24, a 25-year-old Muslim man was allegedly beaten up, verbally abused, and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Diva area of Maharashtra’s Thane district. The same day a 26-year-old madrasa teacher and two others were allegedly assaulted in Kolkata for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram”.