In the Sahibabad area falling under the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, a girl studying in Class 10 was refusing to go to school even for her Pre-Boards. Her family was worried as she appeared overwhelmed with something.

When asked about the reason for her aloofness, she confided in her elder sister that one of her classmates named Firoz and his friend Ahsan used to threaten her with abduction as well as religious conversion.

Things took a turn for the worse on 18th February when the two boys harassed and teased her on the way to the school. This prompted the shocked family to lodge a complaint with the police as well as the headmaster of her school on 21st February.

The police meanwhile had only questioned the girl’s family and had yet failed to catch the assailants who had bolted their homes and fled. To make matters worse a prominent local goon turned up at the family’s home at about 11 PM on 28th February and threatened them to take back the case. This more than terrified the poor family and the girl whose father is a vegetable seller.

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The police finally managed to catch the two accused on the night of 1st March, after receiving the tip that the accused were in the Arthala area of Gaziabad. They presented them in front of a Magistrate the next day and as the accused were underage, sent them to a correctional home. Apart from this the name of the girl’s classmate was also struck off from the school rolls after the family’s complaint.

The incident is yet another example of how Western Uttar Pradesh, even areas that are next to the national capital, has seen social frictions and tensions along communal lines, which are often triggered due to weak law and order situation.