MUMBAI: Six people, including the father and brother of a 22-year-old woman, were arrested on Thursday for allegedly forcing her to get married to another man in their village at Chaubari village in Bachao taluka, Gujarat, in May, despite knowing that she was already the wife of a Powai man from from another caste.
The six—Mahesh Visani alias Varchand who married the woman forcibly and sexually assaulted her, his brother Visan, the woman’s father Tejabhai Ahir and brother Rajesh, village sarpanch Veljibhai Jaga Patel alias Dilla and Pachabhai Patel alias Dilla—are in the custody of the Powai police.
The woman had filed a first information report (FIR) against them on Thursday.
The six have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections, including wrongful confinement, kidnapping a woman with the intent to get her married, criminal intimidation and conspiracy, and under the Information Technology Act for transmitting sexually explicit material in an electronic form.
On Thursday, the Bombay high court had summoned Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale in the case, who appeared through videoconferencing and assured of an inquiry into lapses by the Powai police. On November 6, Powai police had provided security to the woman and her husband’s family on an HC order, fearing a threat from the man with whom she was forcibly married by her parents and the sarpanch.
The couple’s advocate Pranav Badheka said the accused had thought they were above law and could subvert the system. “They were emboldened when every illegal and unlawful action of theirs was taken lightly by police,” he added.
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