Bareilly: Police have booked a man here on rape charges after he forced his daughter-in-law to undergo ‘nikah halala’ with him so that she could remarry his son.

The police lodged the FIR at Kila police station here after the 28-year-old victim met SSP Muniraj G along with social worker Nida Khan, herself a victim of triple talaq, and lodged her complaint.

Under the ‘halala’ custom practised by some Muslims, a man cannot remarry his former wife after divorcing her unless the woman first marries another man and consummates that marriage.

The victim told the SSP that after subjecting her to instant divorce as per the provisions of talaq-e-biddat or instant triple talaq, her husband and other members of her in-laws’ family forced her to marry her father-in-law under ‘nikah halala’ and consummate her marriage with him. This was to allow her to remarry her divorced husband.

But even after her remarriage with her husband, her father-in-law continued to rape her and when she protested against it, her husband divorced her again, she told the police.

After subjecting her to talaq-e-biddat for a second time, her husband and other family members tried to force her to undergo nikah halala yet again — this time with her brother-in-law — prompting her to run away from her marital home, she told the police.

Muniraj ordered registration of the FIR on rape charges against the victim’s father-in-law after hearing her woes.

Police also lodged a separate FIR against the victim’s husband, brother-in-law and mother-in-law on charges of demanding dowry and subjecting her to various cruelties, said SP Abhinandan Singh, adding that the two FIRs were registered on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a local Muslim cleric issued a ‘fatwa’ (diktat) against social worker Khan for “speaking against” Islam and its practices.