Gorakhpur: Woman says she willingly went with youth booked underneath anti-conversion regulation

A lady from Gorakhpur whose father had filed an abduction grievance towards a 22-year-old Muslim man from Karnataka after she went away with him has informed the police that she was not kidnapped or compelled to alter her faith.
The 19-year-old lady and the youth from Karnataka, recognized as Mehboob Chapparband, had been introduced again to the state on Sunday, days after the police registered a case towards the 22-year-old underneath the anti-conversion regulation. He was accused of abducting the girl and forcing her to transform to Islam earlier than marrying her. The police claimed to have discovered the 2 staying close to the railway station in Karnataka’s Bijapur district.

“The woman told the police that she had gone on her own to Karnataka in search of a job. She denied the allegation that she had been kidnapped by the youth and was forced to convert her religion. She further told the police that she came in contact with Mehboob through social media and he did not hide his real identity. The woman showed a willingness to go with Mehboob for a job,” mentioned Additional Superintendent of Police, Gorakhpur, Manoj Kumar Awasthi.
The police officer mentioned Mehboob and the girl had been positioned within the custody of separate non-government organisations. The lady has been medically examined and the report is awaited. “The next course of action will be taken on the basis of the woman’s statement before the magistrate,” Awasthi added.
The police mentioned Mehboob used to work within the service provider navy however was unemployed at current. He was not arrested and was not dropped at Uttar Pradesh on transit remand, mentioned Chiluatal Station House Officer (SHO) Neeraj Rai.
The lady’s father, a retired Army man, had filed a lacking individual report on January 5, saying his daughter had not returned house from faculty. The lady’s father got here throughout a cellphone quantity from which she used to recurrently obtain calls. The police checked a caller identification app, and got here throughout Mehboob’s identify.
Per week after the lacking individual report was registered, utilizing her name element data the girl’s father lodged an FIR towards Mehboob, saying he befriended her in 2019 after introducing himself as Hindu. Mehboob was accused of kidnapping the 19-year-old on the pretext of getting her a job at an organization. He claimed Mehboob might strain his daughter to alter her faith.

The police tracked Mehboob’s quantity to Karnataka and dispatched a three-member staff, together with a sub-inspector, to Bijapur to carry again the girl.
The police have booked Mehboob underneath IPC sections 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing lady to compel her marriage, and so on) and 363 (kidnapping), and underneath the anti-conversion regulation.