FRONT PAGE | Thursday, November 5, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Now, another inter-faith marriage raises passions in J&K
Khursheed Wani | Srinagar
Kin of Sikh girl allege she was forcibly converted to Islam
The marriage of a Sikh girl with a Muslim boy in Srinagar has raised passions in the miniscule minority community in Kashmir while a protest demonstration was held in Jammu against the alleged conversion of the girl. A four-member delegation, comprising representatives of Hindu and Sikh organisations, met the visiting Home Minister in the winter capital and sought his intervention in the issue.
The 19-year-old girl, Amitpaul Kaur, currently in custody at Rambagh women’s police station under High Court orders, recorded her statement before the Registrar (judicial) Abdur Rashid Malik. The High Court decision on the status of the marriage is likely to be announced on Thursday.
Amitpaul, a physiotherapy pass-out of Khalsa Women’s College, Jalandhar, allegedly eloped with her Muslim neighbour Irfan Dagga, a driver, from Bemina locality of Srinagar last month. Her engineer father Mahinderpaul Singh registered a report in the local police station accusing Dagga of kidnapping his daughter.
The girl later appeared in the court and claimed that she was an adult and married Dagga without any coercion. Her “husband” sought protection from police alleging that her father and kin were threatening him. The court told police to take Amitpaul in “protective custody”.
Meanwhile, the Sikh elders in Srinagar formed a 10-member delegation and met senior Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani to intervene. In a Press conference, the Sikh leaders alleged that the girl was kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam. They appealed to Muslim community to denounce the marriage in the interest of age-old relations between the two communities.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Hemant Kumar Lohia told The Pioneer that the girl was in police custody under court directions. “We are awaiting court directions to proceed in the case,” he said, adding that the boy (Dagga) has not been arrested.
Meanwhile, even as the girl was ferried from court to police station here, activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), BJP, National Sikh Youth Front, Shiv Sena, Dogra Liberation Front and RSS held a demonstration in Jammu protesting against the alleged conversion. Alleging that the Sikh girl was kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam, the protesters raised slogans against the Government and police, and demanded that she should be returned to her parents.
Later, a four-member delegation comprising of Mohinder Singh of Akali Dal (Badal), Charanjeet Khalsa (BJP), Prabhat Singh (Sangarsh Samiti) and Rajesh Gupta (BJP) met Home Minister P Chidambaram and sought his intervention in the case. The delegation impressed upon the Home Minister to shift the case from Srinagar to Jammu. They alleged that the girl was being harassed and disallowed to record statement of her will.
President of Shiromini Akali Dal (Kashmir) Joginder Singh Shan told The Pioneer that the incident of Amitpaul’s “conversion” was unfortunate.
“This is against the age-old traditions of Kashmir that has allowed us to live in brotherhood even in the most difficult times.”
Shan, who witnessed the trial on Wednesday, said the Muslim counsel, Abdul Majid Dar, who appeared on behalf of girl’s father, contested the nikahnama. The counsel sought “release” of the girl and asked the court to hand her over to her parents.
This is second inter-caste marriage that has raised eye-brows in past two months. Last month, a Muslim girl Aamina Yousuf converted to Hinduism and married a Jammu-based businessman Rajneesh Kumar. The marriage took an ugly turn when Rajneesh mysteriously died in Ram Munshibagh police station. While his relatives allege that he was killed in custody, police maintains that he committed suicide. A middle-rung civilian officer is investigating the case.
Interestingly, both the inter-religious marriages have not evoked public interest in the Kashmir Valley.
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