A woman from Lucknow whose husband is the head of Khanqah-e-Ashrafia Hussainia Qutbe, a dargah (shrine) in Bengaluru, Karnataka has lodged an FIR in the Indiranagar police station against him and her mother-in-law, accusing them of running a ‘Love Jihad’ racket, among other offences.
The man who has been named in the FIR is Ashraf who has been accused of trading in illegal weapons, harbouring foreign nationals, and torturing his wife for dowry.
The woman, a resident of Lucknow, informed the police that she married Ashraf in 2019 and moved to Bengaluru. For a period of time, her new family was welcoming, however, they started to pressurise her into befriending non-Muslim women and getting them home which she did out of fear of losing her husband.
The woman also told the police that when she became pregnant, Ashraf forced her to undergo a sex determination test. “When Ashraf and her mother got to know that the unborn baby was a girl, they thrashed me. They called my brother and demanded ₹25 lakh for sparing my life. He paid ₹7.5 lakh to them,” the woman revealed, as per reports.
The woman told the police that her husband and mother-in-law were running a ‘love jihad’ racket and lured visitors to the shrine to later trap to further their campaign and used the dargah as a hub of illegal money and arms deals.
“Ashraf married a Hindu girl eventually and renamed her Madiha. She was later shifted to the shrine where she was given training in weaponry,” the woman added.
The woman who is now ousted from her home said her husband and mother-in-law have threatened to accept her under the condition if she gives ₹17.5 lakhs and brings four non-Muslim girls for conversion. She later had to move to her maternal home in Lucknow where she gave birth to her daughter.
ADCP, North, Prachi Singh said an FIR under the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020, and on charges of extortion and dowry harassment has been lodged which also names Ashraf’s mother.
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