BHOPAL: In the second such attack in Madhya Pradesh in two weeks, an interfaith couple was assaulted by a mob in Rewa district court when they went there to get their marriage registered on Friday evening. Police rescued the couple – a 27-year-old Muslim man and a 21-year-old Hindu woman – and registered a case of assault against unidentified people. Twenty-four hours on, there were no arrests.
Sources said that the couple arrived in court seeking to register their marriage. Some lawyers told them that marriage on a stamp paper was not valid. While they were discussing the same, some others present in the court became suspicious and asked for their identity papers. On realising that they belonged to different faiths, they launched an assault.
“On receiving information, we reached the spot and escorted both of them out of the court. They live in villages barely 5km from the district headquarters. A case has been registered against unidentified persons for assaulting the man. The woman’s family was informed, and she went with them. We have not received any complaint from her family,” Civil Lines police station in-charge Kamlesh Sahu told TOI.
This is the second such case this month. On Feb 7, a Muslim man from Narsinghpur was assaulted by alleged members of Hindu organisations in Bhopal district court after he arrived to register a marriage with an 18-year-old Hindu woman.
Cops registered a case against the man under Freedom of Religion Act after the woman and her mother filed a police complaint alleging that he had been ‘harassing her’ since she was a minor. Despite video evidence of the assault and a complaint by the man, police did not register an FIR and recorded only a ‘non-cognisable report’ that absolves them of the need to investigate his complaint.