Karnataka Muslim man booked for 'Love Jihad' in Uttar Pradesh

According to sources a police team had left for Bijapur to trace the girl and arrest the Muslim youth

A Muslim youth, a resident of Bijapur district in Karnataka, was booked under the anti-conversion law in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur district, about 300 kilometres from here after being accused to 'luring' a Hindu girl.

According to the police sources the youth, identified as Mehboob, lived near Indi Railway station in Bijapur district, had allegedly lured a Hindu teen by hiding his identity.

Police said that the father of the girl, a resident of Chiluatal area in Gorakhpur, lodged an FIR alleging that his daughter was a victim of 'Love Jihad' (Muslim youths marrying Hindu girls under false pretences).

He told the cops that Mehboob, who had been in touch with his daughter for the past around a year, had posed to her as a Hindu boy.

Police said that the girl had left home for her college last week but did not return. The family members alleged that Mehboob had 'kidnapped' the girl.

A police team had left for Bijapur to trace the girl and arrest the Muslim youth, sources said.

Around 35 cases of alleged 'Love Jihad' had been lodged in different parts of the state after the new law came into effect in the state, according to the officials.

At least two cases of 'Love Jihad' had failed to pass the initial legal test in the state. In one of the cases, the court-ordered release of two arrested Muslim youths after the police failed to produce any evidence against them and in another, the court stayed the arrest of a Muslim man, who had been booked under the new law.

The new law provided for a maximum imprisonment of ten years and also a fine for religious conversion through deceit, force, allurement or any other fraudulent means or for the purpose of marriage.