A minor in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district was booked under the new unlawful conversion ordinance days after after a minor girl with whom he had eloped alleged that he had raped her and coerced her to change her religion.
A case under kidnapping was lodged against unknown persons at Nawabganj Police Station on February 6 on the Class IX student’s father’s complaint, in which he said that she had left home on February 5 around noon but didn’t return. The father told the police that he had no clue with whom she had gone and that he had found her cycle parked somewhere the next day.
Senior Superintendent of Police Bareilly Rohit Singh Sajwan said that on February 8, the girl came to the police station along with her father and said that she had gone with a boy. Based on her statement, fresh Sections were added to the FIR, the officer said.
A police officer in Bareilly’s Nawabganj Police Station said that the Indian Penal Code Sections added to the FIR were 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 376 (rape).
Sections 3/4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Sections 3/5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 were added to the FIR.
While the accused boy is 17 years old, the minor girl is aged 15-16 years, police said.
Mr. Sajwan said the girl had been sent for a medical examination, while the minor boy, who suffers from an ailment, had been admitted to a hospital for treatment.
