AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday quashed a police complaint against a Muslim youth who married a Hindu girl against the wishes of her parents.

The court issued the order on a petition filed by the couple against a police complaint purportedly made by the girl, which claimed that the boy and his family demanded dowry and subjected her to physical abuse.

Forced to sign

The complaint was quashed after the girl told the court that she had not filed any such complaint, she was forced to sign on a blank paper and had no idea about the contents of the alleged complaint. Both the boy and the girl told the court that they loved each other and there was no question of any dowry or physical harassment.

Both residents of Kosamba, near Surat, Amir Raza (21) and Swati Khare (19) had eloped and registered their marriage at Chitradurga, near Bangalore, on June 21.

But ever since they returned to Kosamba on September 19 to meet their parents, they had to confront the "moral police" of the Sangh Parivar.

However, Swati's father himself contacted the Bajrang Dal and the Durga Vahini for "help" after she met them.

Some Parivar activists forced Swati to accompany them to the Kosamba police station to file a complaint. The local police also allegedly colluded with them and forced her to sign on a blank paper. They allegedly threatened to kill her and Amir in a fake encounter if she refused to sign. Later, a complaint of dowry and assault was registered against Amir.

Forced to abort

Two months pregnant, Swati was later taken to a hospital in Broach by the Parivar activists and was forced to abort the child. Brought back to Kosamba, she was asked to sign on a divorce paper. On her refusal, she was reportedly kept "in confinement" in her brother's house in Vadodara.

The Kosamba police kept harassing Amir on the basis of the complaint, following which he went into hiding in Surat. Swati, however, managed to flee from her brother's house on October 3 and with the help of some friends managed to contact Amir. The duo met at the Surat railway station, after which they filed a complaint with the Surat Police Commissioner against the Parivar activists, her parents and the doctor in the Broach hospital and later filed a petition in the High Court. Swati's father, Amir claimed, was still trying to exert pressure on him to divorce her, but both have so far resisted the move.

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