Priest put on trial for performing rituals in forced marriage
Performing rituals in the ''forced'' marriage of a girl has proved costly for a priest with the Delhi High Court paving way for his trial in a case of kidnapping and compelling a woman to marry.
Justice Mukta Gupta ordered the trial of Pandit Pappu Dubey, dismissing his plea against framing of charges by a lower court for offence of kidnapping and compelling a woman to marry.
"An omission is also an act and in the present case the way the petitioner (the priest) co-operated in the offences committed by the co-accused clearly showed that he shared a common intention to commit the alleged offences," Justice Gupta said upholding the trial court's order.
The trial court had framed charges against the priest during adjudication of a criminal case against one Raju, accused of marrying the girl on knife point in a temple in Sarswati Vihar in North West Delhi with Pandit Pappu performing the marriage rites.
The trial court had summoned the priest as an accused and framed charges against him even as the victim, in her complaint to the police, had made no allegations against him.
The court, however, roped him as an accused after the woman during his deposition elaborated that the priest continued performing the rituals despite Raju forcing her to marry him on knife point after taking her to the temple on a flimsy pretext on December 18, 2004.
Justice Gupta dismissed the priest's appeal against framing of charges against him, rejecting his contention that he was not involved in the crime.
The judge said performing marriage ceremony while the woman was being threatened amounted to his complicity.
It cannot be said that the priest did not share the common intention or "did not commit any overt act. The overt act on the part of the petitioner is performing the marriage, when the prosecutrix (woman) was threatened to marry and sign documents," Justice Gupta said.
