india

Updated: Jan 08, 2018 18:30 IST

A Bihar man, who was allegedly abducted and forcibly married to a woman against his will in December last year, on Monday moved a court seeking stringent actions against the culprits.

Binod Kumar, a junior engineer at Jharkhand’s Bokaro Steel Plant, has alleged he was abducted by unidentified masked men on gunpoint from Mokama, around 80km east of Patna, where had gone to meet his friend.

Kumar said he was driven to an isolated place in Gopekita village near the state capital Patna and forcibly made to tie the knot with a woman, Kundan Kumari, on December 3 last year.

He managed to record the incident on camera and circulated the video, which has gone viral on social media, to his friends and family. The incident eventually came to the notice of the police, who rescued him a day after the forcible wedding.

Pakadua vivah or forcible wedding was a common practice in southeast Bihar but saw a decline after government initiatives and police tightening its grip on people abducting eligible bachelors for marriages to avoid paying dowry.

Kumar has alleged in his petition to the additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) in Barh that his abduction and the wedding was planned and executed by Surendra Yadav, the elder brother of the woman he was forcibly married to.

He said he has requested the court to initiate criminal proceedings against the culprits and order stringent actions so that such “evil and heinous practice” does not reoccur.

Kumar’s elder brother, Awadesh Kumar, said the family has also approached the National Human Rights Commission and other bodies in Delhi after they failed to get justice from Patna Police.

“The police had taken its own sweet time to rescue my brother when he was in captivity. Perhaps, they were influenced by the culprits,” Awadesh, an employee with the Indian Overseas Bank in Patna, said.

The station house officer of Pandarak police station, Diwakar Vishwakarma, declined his allegations. He said they promptly rescued Kumar and handed him into the safe custody of his relatives as soon as they got the information about his abduction. He said Kumar’s friend was also present when he was rescued.

Yadav, the woman’s elder brother, countered Kumar’s allegation as baseless. He said both families know each other for over a decade and the wedding was being planned since last year when Kumar’s father Suryug Rai suddenly fell ill.

He said he had paid for Rai’s treatment and his sister’s wedding was finalised with Kumar when his father was in the hospital. He alleged that after his father died, Kumar turned his back and the family started demanding dowry.

Kumar eventually agreed to marry his sister on December 3 after a lot of coaxing, he said.

“I wonder why they are creating a fuss after the marriage and defaming my sister by making a fudged video of the wedding viral,” Yadav said, adding, his sister has also moved the National Commission for Women (NCW) for justice.