Woman alleges abduction, forcible marriage to Bajrang Dal activist

MANGALORE: A woman from Elyarpadavu, about 15km from here, who had married a Bajrang Dal activist, filed charges of abduction and attempt to outrage the modesty of a woman against several Dal activists. She also alleged that Jagadeesh Shenava, president, Mangalore district unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, had threatened to harm her parents if she didn’t marry the activist.
The complainant in her twenties, who married Rajesh Shetty on October 16 at the Arya Samaj here, complained to Konaje police that she was drugged and coerced into the marriage.
In the complaint, she stated that Shetty, who she knew on Facebook through her elder sister, called her and told her he wanted money. After she gave him Rs 6,000 at his shop, Laxmi Fancy on Market Road here, she alleged that Shetty had given her juice spiked with a sedative. Shetty made her get into a van driven by Praveen Kuthar and they allegedly took her to a finance firm run by Dinesh, where about 10 persons threatened her to get married to Shetty and get converted. When she refused, they threatened to harm her parents.
The complainant said the next day she was taken to Arya Samaj where Shenava threatened to kill her parents if she went to the police. In the meanwhile, Konaje police reached Arya Samaj based on a compliant by her father that she’d been kidnapped. She also said Shenava made her sign a few papers and on October 17, they took her to the deputy commissioner’s office and the accused took her thumb impression on more papers.
She also alleged that four persons tried to outrage her modesty at a house in Attavar. On October 19, she said she escaped from Global Residency Hotel when Shetty was in the bathroom.
Konaje police registered cases under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty); 147 (punishment for rioting); 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly,); 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc.); 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement.); 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt.) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation.).
Mangalore police commissioner R Hithendra said: “We have registered the case and are investigating it.”
Shenava rebutted the charges: “These are baseless allegations. Four policemen were witness to the marriage and they should be first accused in this case. I came after police left. The next day, the couple went to the police station as the girl’s father filed a complaint. This was a three-year love affair culminating in marriage. At the Arya Samaj, I told the girl’s mother that the boy’s financial position was not good and they could take the girl back. It’s a political conspiracy to shut me down since our protest had resulted in suspension of a Kavoor police station official recently. This had embarrassed both police and the government.”