Indore: Maulvi, five others booked for performing 'nikah' of 14-year-old girl in city

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A case has been registered against a Muslim cleric and five others for allegedly forcibly performing nikah (marriage) of a 14-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city, police said on Thursday.

An FIR was registered on Wednesday for the ceremony that took place on July 4 2021 between a girl who was 14 at the time and a 19-year-old man, said Dinesh Verma, the in-charge of Khajrana police station.

According to the FIR, the man had not only forcibly confined the girl in his house, but had also raped her.

Apart from the maulvi (Muslim cleric), the FIR registered for violation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 also named the groom's mother and three witnesses present at the time of solemnising the nikah, the official said.

The medical examination of the victim was also conducted at a hospital, he said.

"We received a complaint that the groom's family had forced the girl and her parents for the marriage," said Mahendra Pathak, the in-charge of the prevention of child-marriage squad.

The child welfare society also recorded the victim's statement and on the basis of it, an FIR was registered in the matter, he said.

A religious institution in the district had issued the nikah (marriage) certificate and the authorities are also examining the document, he said.

Under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, marriage of a girl below 18 years of age and a boy below 21 is illegal and those found guilty of it are awarded two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh or both under it.