Minor Boy Forced To Convert, Marry Mother Of Two Twice His Age

A 16-year-old boy was allegedly forced to convert to Islam and marry a mother of two who is twice his age, the police said.

The mother of the unidentified teen said they live in the Kakadeo locality of Nagpur, India, and that her son had somehow come in contact with the married Muslim woman who lives in a different locality.

According to local media reports, the teen disappeared on May 22, and his mother learned about his ‘nikah’ (wedding) from a video her neighbor showed her.

The video shows the Maulana (head priest) allegedly converting the boy into Islam and performing other wedding-related rituals, reports said.

The family approached the police three times but the authorities did not register a complaint. A case was finally registered after Hindu nationalist militant organizations like Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad intervened in the incident.

Police have arrested the woman, her parents, and the Maulana who performed the ‘nikah’, DCP Kanpur West BBTGS Murthy said.

Bajrang Dal’s Prant Vidhyarathi Pramukh Princeraj Srivastava alleged that the boy was forced to convert.

"We tried to register an FIR on Monday but the Kakdeo police refused. The case was lodged today on the instructions of senior officers," Srivastava said.

The police added the minor boy was handed over to his family after a medical examination. However, a relative of the woman, the boy married, said the ‘nikah’ was performed at the boy’s insistence and that her family did not know that he was underage.

A similar incident was reported in Pakistan when a 13-year-old girl born to a Christian family was abducted and converted to Islam. She was then forced to get married to her kidnapper, according to the girl’s father.

The incident happened in Gujranwala city of Pakistan in May last year.

The teen girl’s father, Shahid Gill, who is a tailor by profession, said that his neighbor, the alleged kidnapper, had offered to hire the victim as a salesgirl at his cosmetic store. The father said that he initially refused the offer saying his daughter was still a child.

However, the neighbor, who is a Muslim, kept insisting and frequently asked for help with his business. Succumbing to the family’s financial pressure the father decided to send the girl for the job.

Gill said that on May 20, 2021, he failed to locate the girl and went looking for her. When he asked his neighbors they told him that they had seen the girl getting into a pickup truck with the kidnapper and some other men and women.

He then filed a kidnapping complaint at the Ferozabad police station and a case was registered against the neighbor and seven other persons.

However, the girl later appeared at a local court and recorded a statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) saying that she had left the home at her own will to convert to Islam and get married to her alleged kidnapper.

The court heard the child and passed a surprising judgment allowing her to go with her purported husband. The court also ordered the police to close the case which they obediently followed.

Gill made an appeal reminding the court that her daughter was just 13-years-old and that her statement of willful conversion and marriage should not be accepted.

In the complaint, the father said that the child was forcefully abducted and married to the kidnapper and that they had threatened her to make the statements in their favor. Gill said that the man was already married and had four children, including three daughters and a son.

He told the court that the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 states that a marriage of a "child" cannot be considered legal if the male is below 18 years of age and the female is below 16 years of age.

However, the court quashed the appeal and proceeded with its initial judgment. Gill still continues to legally fight for his daughter.