3 arrested for trying to convert minor, marrying her

Three residents of Uttar Prades's Firozabad district have been arrested in Gujarat on charges of trying to convert a 15-year-old girl and marrying her.

The girl's father, a resident of Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh, runs a canteen in Bharuch in Gujarat, and one of the accused, Salim, was an employee there.

Firozabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ashok Kumar said: "The accused Salim brought the girl to Firozabad in the name of treatment and changed her Hindu name to a Muslim one. Salim, aged 21 years married the minor girl, aged 15 years."

He said the girl's father reached Firozabad and lodged a complaint after Salim did not return.


Police collected information and found that Salim, along with his father Abdul Gaffar and brother-in-law Rahman, were in Bharuch.

"The case was registered under relevant IPC sections and as the girl was a minor, the accused have been booked under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, besides the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020," the SSP said.

"All three of the accused were presented before a magistrate and sent to jail on Sunday."-IANS