Vadodara: City police have arrested three men under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021 that came into force on June 15.
This is the second case registered under the ‘love jihad’ law by the cops within a week in the city and third in the state.
A 23-year-old woman approached the Fatehgunj police on Wednesday accusing her husband of forcefully converting her religion.
The complainant told the cops that she had first met accused Mohib Pathan in 2018 when she used to attend her tuition classes.
They both exchanged phone numbers and started talking with each other.
She said that 25-year-old Pathan proposed her for marriage and promised that she would be free to follow her religion.
The duo had registered marriage in August 2020 following which she shifted to Pathan’s house in Chhani.
“The woman said that within a month of the marriage, Pathan called a Qazi and performed marriage rituals as per his religion.
She said that he also forced her to change her name,” the police said.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that Pathan would demand unnatural sex and thrashed her if she refused.
The woman added that he didn’t allow her to pray as per her religion and also threw away an idol she had brought with her.
Her plaints before Pathan’s father Imtiyaz Pathan and elder brother Mohsin Pathan, too fell on deaf ears, she alleged.
The woman also accused the elder brother of trying to molest her when she was alone at home.
Her husband didn’t protest even when she informed him about the incident.
She said that Pathan was further enraged when she named their baby, born three months ago, as Shiva, and thrashed her.
Pathan got violent again on Wednesday, and the woman left her house and approached the police.
“We have arrested the father and his two sons.
Investigations are on to find out if anyone else is involved in the incident,” said Paresh Bhesania, ACP.
The accused have also been booked under IPC sections 354 for outraging woman’s modesty, 498-A for domestic violence and 377 for unnatural sex.
Three arrested under new ‘love jihad’ law
