UP: Man held for marrying under false pretence, pressuring wife to convert

Barabanki (UP), Sep 16 (PTI) A 35-year-old man, accused of marrying a woman by pretending to be Hindu and later pressuring her to convert to Islam, has been arrested by the police here, officials said on Monday.

The police action has come on instructions of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sudha Singh’s court, which ordered that an FIR be lodged in the case following a complaint by a 32-year-old woman, they said.

Mohammad Azam Zaidi, a property dealer and contractor, was arrested on Sunday, and subsequently presented in court, which has sent him to jail, a senior official said.

The woman alleged that Zaidi, who pretended to be named Aman, trapped her into marriage in 2016. After discovering her husband’s true identity, she faced threats and sexual assault, the official added.

Following the complaint, CJM Sudha Singh directed the Kotwali police to take action. The police have registered a case against Zaidi under sections 498A (cruelty to wife), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (insult with intent to disturb peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 376 (rape) of the IPC as well as under the Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Act and the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, the official added.

Additional Superintendent of Police (South) Akhilesh Narayan Singh said, “On the instructions of the court, the police registered a case under the specified sections and arrested the accused on Sunday.”

He added that the accused had repeatedly assaulted the victim, who gave birth to a daughter in 2017 before being abandoned by Zaidi.

Kotwali in-charge Inspector Ajay Kumar Tripathi said Zaidi began pressuring the victim to convert to Islam after the birth of their daughter.

“The accused was arrested within 24 hours of the case being filed. The investigation will be completed soon, and a charge sheet will be filed in court,” Tripathi added.