Court sends ‘love jihad’ accused, mother to 14-day judicial custody

Ranchi: The court of chief judicial magistrate on Thursday sent ‘love-jihad’ accused Raqibul Hasan Khan alias Ranjit Kumar Kohli and his mother to judicial custody for 14 days. Kohli and his mother were arrested from Delhi late on Tuesday night and brought to Ranchi on Wednesday.
During interrogation, Raqibul accepted he had invited kazis to his house and conducted formalities of nikah with Tara after their Hindu-style marriage at a Ranchi hotel in July because he had a liking for Islam.
Holding a press conference later in the day, Ranchi SSP Prabhat Kumar said: “The evidence gathered from Kohli’s house suggests that he is a Hindu. About the nikah, he told us he was fond of Islam’s practices.” It is not clear how kazis came to his house to conduct nikah knowing well that he was a Hindu. “We will look for the kazis and find out what information they have. It is difficult to believe kazis would conduct nikah for Hindu couple,” said Kumar.
Police, however, failed to recover the papers signed during nikah from Kohli’s house house. They were married in May and just 40 days into the marriage, Tara lodged an FIR against Raqibul alias Ranjit under IPC sections 498A (dowry) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings of a class by insulting its religious beliefs.)
“There are some contradictions in his statements. We will conduct a narco-test if necessary,” said Kumar. Kohli told police he had informed Tara about his religious inclinations before marriage. Kohli is a 10th grader, said Ranchi city SP Anoop Birthary.