Man held in religious conversion case in Haryana’s Nuh

Gurugram, Sep 11 (PTI) A man has been arrested for allegedly forcing a woman for religious conversion for marriage in Haryana’s Nuh district, police said on Thursday.

According to the police, this is the first arrest made by the Nuh police under the Haryana Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion Act, 2022.

In her complaint, Sheela alias Kanchan, a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur, said she was living in Nuh city with her two children for the last several years.

Earlier in the year 2008, she was married to Chhuttan, who worked as a labourer in Nuh, but due to drug addiction and criminal activities, the couple split and she started living with her children in a rented house, the police said.

In 2020, she met Azam and they grew closer and they started living together in Bhiwadi with Sheela’s children, they said.

“While staying at a rented house in Bhiwadi, in June 2020, he brought a Maulana along with him and forced her to convert by threatening me. The maulana made me recite Kalma and changed my name from Sheela to Saiba and also forced me to Nikah with Azam,” the woman alleged in her complaint.

After forceful conversion and marriage, Azam's attitude changed and started pressuring Sheela to wear burqa, offer namaz and go to Tablighi Jamaat, the police said.

Later, Sheela came to know that Azam was already married and had children. When she reached Azam's village in Malb, his first wife and family members attacked her. Somehow she saved her life and returned to Nuh, but Azam came there and started living with her again, the police said.

"Azam snatched my wages and continuously sexually and mentally abused me. Azam's brother-in-law Kallu and Hakku used to talk obscenely to me on the phone and pressurize me for marriage and finally I moved to the police,” Sheela said in her complaint.

"We have arrested the main accused Azam today and are questioning him. A thorough investigation of the case is underway. This is the first arrest under the anti-conversion law in Nuh and action is being taken as per the law,” the spokesperson of Nuh police said. PTI COR NB NB