Man in UP Booked for Rape, Religious Conversion Bid on Punjab Woman

Budaun (UP): A 29-year-old man was arrested here on charges of rape and under anti-religious conversion law after he allegedly made physical relations with a woman by hiding his real identity, police said on Wednesday.

The mother and father of the accused have also been arrested for aiding his attempt to force the complainant into changing her religion, they said.

The 26-year-old woman, who hails from Punjab and worked at a call centre, approached the Bisauli Police Station on Tuesday, alleging that she was deceived into a love trap, raped by the accused and an attempt was made to convert her religion.

The woman claimed that they have a daughter from their relationship but the accused deferred marrying her and eventually she got to know that he is a Muslim and not a Hindu, said a local police official.

This began when the woman, working at a call centre, and the accused, who worked as an automobile mechanic, met in Chandigarh around two years ago, the official said.

"On the basis of the complaint, an FIR was lodged and the accused Sohail Khan, his father Niamu and mother Rukhsana have been arrested," said Superintendent of Police (Budaun Rural) K K Saroj.

"The police will present the victim in the court after getting her medical examination done," Saroj added.

The FIR in the case was lodged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongfully confining a person), 504 (insult to provoke breach of peace) and 376 (rape), the police said.

The charges under the stringent UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Act have also been invoked in the case, they said.

With PTI Inputs