In a case of getting even, a 14-year-old Mulund resident was duped and forcefully married off to 18-year-old Razaq by his family who live in Bhiwandi in a bid to get even with the girl’s family. The 14-year-old and her parents, who are trying to get the Mulund police to investigate the matter.
Following the wedding, the boy’s family allegedly began physically torturing the minor for dowry, as a result of which the girl ran to her uncle’s home. Now, both families are caught in a battle of police complaints in the Nizampur police station and Mulund police station.
How it began
The victim and 18-year-old Razaq, who then worked in Ahmedabad, met late last year through a common friend. They exchanged numbers and began meeting frequently. Later, Razaq proposed to her and she accepted. Razaq then began meeting her frequently near her college in Bhandup.
On February 24, Razaq asked the girl to come with him to Ahmedabad. “We met at 1 pm and spent some time together,” said the victim. “However when I told him that I should be going home as my father would scold me if I was late, he began forcing me to come to Ahmedabad with him. I didn’t want to go but agreed as I loved him and didn’t want to upset him.”
When the girl didn’t come home, her parents went to the Mulund police station and filed a ‘missing’ complaint. Her father spoke to her friends and reckoned that she had gone away with Razaq. A police team was dispatched to Ahmedabad in search of the two. There, they got a tip-off that Razaq and the girl had returned on February 28 to Bhiwandi, where the boy’s family lived.
“We were in Ahmedabad for four days,” said the girl. “Razaq’s family then asked him to come back to Mumbai as he was not safe in Ahmedabad. So we came back to Bhiwandi on February 28.” Acting on the tip-off, Mulund police went to the boy’s Bhiwandi residence and got the girl back to her parents’ house . “After that, Razaq’s parents held a grudge against my parents. Because of my family, police had arrived at their doorstep for the first time and they did not like it at all,” the girl said.
Wedding woes
The next day, on March 1, Razaq’s parents forced a marriage ceremony and threatened the girl’s parents if they refused. “I was against the marriage as my daughter is a minor and I didn’t like the boy’s family but they threatened me and performed the marriage ceremony,” said the father of the victim.
Following the wedding, Razaq’s family, comprising Makbool Khan (father), Akburneesa (mother), Shakeel (brother), Yasmeen and Fatima (sisters) and Aneesh Khan (brother-in-law) began harassing the girl. According to the victim, they would hit her, choke her and lock her up in a room for days. “They persistently tortured me for dowry and asked me to get a television set, washing machine and cash from my parents’ house,” she said. “They also threatened to take me to their native place and kill me.”
“Terrified, I escaped from them in April and came to my uncle’s house in Mulund. I was scared to go to my father as he was angry with me and wouldn’t take me in,” she said. After she fled, Makbool Khan filed a ‘missing’ complaint with the Nizampur police station. “In order to take revenge, they filed a ‘missing’ complaint as previously we had filed one against them,” alleged the victim’s father. “In response to the complaint, a police official had come to take my daughter’s statement but she wasn’t with me so they took my statement.”
“I have been pleading with the police officials not to transfer the case to Nizampur police station and instead designate someone from Mulund police station for investigations. My daughter’s brother-in-law Aneesh Khan had told me that he had been dealing with the police for ages and could influence the whole case,” her father alleged.
On May 3, the victim’s family sent a written letter to Assistant Commissioner of Police Vasant Tajne (Mulund division) and Senior Police Inspector Jivajirao Jadav of Mulund police station pleading their case. They are still awaiting a response.
The other side
Assistant Commissioner of Police Vasant Tajne claimed that the investigations are going on and the police have been doing everything to solve the matter.
