A wrestling coach from Haryana allegedly abducted a minor female wrestler from Madhya Pradesh and married her after changing his religion in Rohtak, as per the Madhya Pradesh police.
Naveen Nara, a resident of Rohtak, was already married and changed his religion so he could marry the 16-year-old Muslim teen without facing criminal action, as per a report by Hindustan Times.
“Naveen misused a recent Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling which held that a minor Muslim girl can enter into a valid marriage upon attaining puberty, the age of which is 15 years, according to applicable personal laws in Islam, to save himself from criminal action,” an MP police officer said, as per the report.
The court had said that such a marriage was not in violation of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Riyaz Iqbal, said, “The father of the girl informed us that they met Naveen in Rohtak during a wrestling event in July. Naveen started persuading them to send their daughter to Rohtak for training. Naveen also came to Bhopal in August to meet the girl but the family found his behaviour objectionable and didn’t entertain him.”
The girl’s family filed a complaint at Shyamla police station on November 9, alleging that he had kidnapped their daughter and a case was reportedly registered.
“During investigation, police reached Jhajjar while tracing the car used in crime and also visited Naveen’s house in Charkhidadri in Haryana. But they were not able to find him. Police then traced the location of the girl to Rohtak.
“In the meantime, Naveen married the girl by adopting Islam as he was already a married and the girl was minor. Naveen also made the girl file a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High court for the protection from her parents. However, the court handed over the girl to Bhopal police,” Iqbal told Hindustan Times.
“The girl cited the October 28, 2022, judgement of the high court which said marriage of Muslim girl, who attained puberty, would not be void in terms of section 12 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, to validate their marriage. We produced the CCTV footage before the court which showed that he abducted the girl from Bhopal. The court handed over the girl to us on December 9,” Shyamla Hills police station in-charge Umesh Yadav said, as per the report.
Nara, through all this, had managed to evade the police. Due to the PIL filed in the court, Nara was not arrested after he was found living with the girl in Rohtak, a police officer said. “On the day of the hearing . the girl came to the court and we brought her back,” the officer said.
He further said that the teen did not want to go back to her parents and insisted that she had married Nara of her own will. “After a lot of counselling, we handed over the girl to her parents on Wednesday. On Friday, the girl recorded her statement in the court reiterating that she was not abducted,” the officer said. Police claim that Nara had brainwashed the girl.
Nara has been booked for the abduction of a minor. The DCP said, “We are legally examining whether sections under POCSO can be applied in this case.”
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