A special CBI court in Ranchi recently convicted three persons including a previous Registrar of the Jharkhand High Court for fraudulent marriage, rape and for attempt to forcefully convert a former national-level shooter to Islam. The Court convicted the ex-husband of the victim, the mother-in-law of the victim and Md. Mushtaque Ahmed, former Registrar (Vigilance) of the Jharkhand High Court.

After a detailed hearing on the point of sentence, the Special CBI Judge Prabhat Kumar Sharma convicted the ex-husband for offences under Sections 120B IPC r/w Section 376 (2)(n), 496, 298, 323 and 506 of the IPC and sentenced him to life imprisonment with fine. Md. Mushtaque Ahmed was convicted for offences under Sections 120B IPC r/w Section 376(2)(n), 496, 298, 323 and 506 of the IPC and has been sentenced to Rigorous Imprisonment of Fifteen years and a fine of Rs. 50,000/-. The mother-in-law has also been convicted for the same offences and sentenced to Rigorous Imprisonment of Ten years with a fine of Rs. 50,000/-.

The CBI represented by Priyanshu Kumar Singh, Senior Public Prosecutor, had argued that the main motive of the convicts was to forcibly convert the victim to Islam and carry out "Love Jihad". The previous husband misrepresented himself to be a Hindu and lured the victim and convinced her to marry him. The family of the victim was convinced by eminent personalities including the now-convicted Ex-Registrar of the High Court. The convicts were represented by Advocate Mukhtar Khan.

Md. Mushtaque Ahmed was a Judicial Officer and was posted as Registrar(Vigilance) at the High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi. The marriage took place as per Hindu rites and ceremonies. But soon after the marriage, Mushtaque Ahmed brought a cleric and asked the victim to perform a Nikah. It had come out during the trial that the Muslim cleric, after knowing that the victim is a Hindu, refused to perform Nikah and asked the victim to convert to Islam. Thereafter, the whole family forced the victim to convert to Islam but she refused and protested against the demand. When the victim consistently refused to convert to Islam, the convicts physically assaulted her and locked her in a room. They used their domestic dog to attack the victim and torture her. It had also come out in evidence that the victim was forced to eat beef.

The Court while convicting the three accused for plotting conspiracy, found that the chain of criminality is intact and the Prosecution has proved the case beyond all reasonable doubts. The Court thus awarded the maximum sentence possible.

The FIR was registered in August 2014 and the judgment of conviction was pronounced on September 30 and the order of sentencing was pronounced on Thursday. The High Court of Jharkhand transferred the investigation from local police to the CBI in May, 2015 by its order in a PIL filed by an organization named Akhand Bharat.

During the trial, a witness deposed that Md. Mustaque Ahmad, using his post, put pressure so that an incomplete statement of the witness was recorded. The victim had deposed that she was raped by her ex-husband at gunpoint.

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Love Jihad

Verdictum News Desk