SAMBHAL: In a startling incident, puritanical policemen forced a boy to marry a girl he was found in a compromising situation with. Not just that, a cleric was summoned to perform the ceremony at the police station itself, with the thana turning into an impromptu banquet hall . As if that wasn’t enough, local musicians were then called to play some popular tunes with cops dancing to songs like ‘Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai’ to celebrate the ‘ wedding .’

The incident took place on Thursday at the Sarai Saif Khan locality, which comes under the jurisdiction of Sambhal Kotwali police station. The boy was apparently caught by the girl’s relatives inside her house. A crowd soon gathered and police was called in.

A complaint of sexual assault was allegedly filed by one of the girl’s relatives against the boy. According to sources, the boy got scared when one of the cops told him that if he was booked, he could be imprisoned for life. In case he wanted to escape the punishment, he was allegedly told, he could marry the girl.

According to the area’s residents, the frightened boy immediately acquiesced to the idea. Accordingly, one of the girl’s relatives was dispatched on a bike to get a qazi and the nikaah was formalized at the police station itself. In fact, some of the cops also turned baraatis for the boy they were threatening to book – purchasing a sehra for him from a shop outside the kotwali.

The girl was also allegedly summoned to the police station to sign the nikaahnama. Post the ‘wedding’, the cops also posed for a selfie with the couple.

On being queried about the incident, Chottay Lal, senior sub-inspector of Kotwali police station, defended the cops’ actions saying that “the police had to intervene to safeguard the interests of the girl and her family.”

