Chhattisgarh: Woman accuses husband, in-laws of forceful religious conversion and dowry harassment; 3 held

Durg, Sep 2 (PTI) A 21-year-old woman here in Chhattisgarh has lodged a case against her husband, accusing him of forcibly converting her religion for marriage and indulging in unnatural sex with her, an official said on Thursday.

She also alleged that her husband and in-laws harassed her for dowry, Chhavni police station house officer Vishal Son said.

Based on her complaint, a case was registered against her husband, his parents, brother and sister-in-law on Wednesday at the Chhavni police station, the official said.

The woman's husband, his father and brother were arrested, while his mother and sister-in-law are absconding, he said.

The woman, a native of J P Nagar in Chhavni area of Durg district, in her police complaint said she was in a relationship with the 25-year-old man from the same locality.

In December last year, she and the man left their homes without telling anyone, following which her parents had lodged a missing person's complaint, the official said. The couple returned in February this year and informed the Chhavni police that they had married in Kolkata and also produced documents in support of it. Since then, the woman was living in the house of her in-laws, the police official said.

On Wednesday, the woman reached the police station here and filed a complaint, alleging that her husband forcibly converted her religion before marriage in Kolkata and also pressurised her to consume beef, he said.

The woman further alleged that her husband indulged in unnatural sex with her. She also accused her father-in-law, mother-in-law, husband's brother and sister-in-law of harassing her for dowry, the official said.

The case was registered against the accused under Sections 377 (unnatural offences) and 498-A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), provisions of the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act-1968 and the Dowry Prohibition Act-1961, the police official said. PTI COR TKP GK GK