The principal bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed the arrest of a Muslim man booked on charges of abducting a Hindu girl and ordered the police to offer him security, if need be.
Dindori resident Asif Khan had eloped with Sakshi Sahu, who lived nearby, and the couple got married in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. Her family had lodged a complaint against Khan and his family, terming their marriage illegal. During the hearing, Sakshi testified that she had consented to the marriage and was not abducted.
Khan had pleaded before the court that the Dindori police acted in partisan manner and booked him on charges of abduction. The man demanded that the irregular first information report (FIR) lodged against him be quashed.
After the FIR, police and administration demolished his house, as part of a bulldozer drive against criminals in the state.
After hearing the matter, the court of judge Nandita Dubey served notices to the police, state government and others. The court also sought a clarification from the Dindori administration on the demolition drive. The HC also ordered them to get married under the Special Marriage Act.
The HC has posted the matter for hearing in June. As interim relief, the court has ordered the police not to act against the man on the basis of the FIR, said his lawyer.
Inputs from Prateek Mohan Awasthi
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