A 21-year old man was allegedly abducted at gunpoint and married “forcefully” on Thursday in Barhaiya of Lakhisarai district in Bihar. He was later rescued by the police from the neighbouring district of Jamui.
In a police complaint, Manoj Kumar alleged that his son, Shivam Kumar, 21, was abducted at gunpoint and married to a girl “forcefully”.
“Shivam had recently got a government job by clearing examination for General Duty Service in Indian Army and was to report in Hyderabad on January 14,” Mr. Kumar said.
“My son was abducted while he was taking a morning stroll with his friends at Gangasarai village under Barhaiya Police Station in Lakhisarai district. His friends witnessed the incident and informed the family. The abductors had come in an SUV (sports utility vehicle),” Mr. Kumar told mediapersons.
Later, irate villagers blocked the Lakhisarai-Patna main road for over three hours and demanded the immediate recovery of Mr. Shivam Kumar. “Stern action must be taken against the abductors,” said the protesting villagers. Later, local police reached the spot and cleared traffic movement on the road by pacifying the protesting villagers.
Meanwhile, pictures of Shivam Kumar tying the nuptial knot with a girl went viral on social media and police rescued him from Sikandra Police Station of neighbouring Jamui district. “Shivam was rescued by the police within four hours of his abduction,” said Lakhisarai Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar. The police, he added, had been carrying out raids to arrest the accused persons.
“Shivam Kumar was picked up by some youths in an SUV at gunpoint and taken to a temple at Simaria in Jamui district where he was married with a girl forcefully,” a relative of Shivam Kumar said. His friends, too, echoed this.
There have been occasional incidents of forceful marriage, which is also known in Bihar as “pakadua vivaah”, from the Munger, Lakhisarai, Begusarai, Nawada and Khagaria districts of Bihar.
In December 2019, similar incidents of alleged forceful marriages were reported to the local police from Vaishali and Jehanabad districts, too.
Statistics available with the State Crime Record Bureau show 6,517 cases of forceful marriages reported in the State in 2020. However, police officials on condition of anonymity said “most of these cases were found to be of elopement”.
