Begusarai Minor Girl’s Conversion-Nikah: Child Commission Directs Police To Give Day-To-Day Progress Report

Swarajya has been reporting about a case in Bihar’s Begusarai district where a minor girl has been missing since November 20 and her alleged kidnapper has Whatsapped her conversion and nikah papers to her family.

The girl is a Hindu and belongs to a backward caste. The accused is her tutor Mohammad Jaseem alias Sameer, who is 26.

A first information report (FIR) in the case was registered at Muffasil Police Station’s Dumri block on 22 November (number 612/19) under IPC sections 366 (procuration of minor girl) and 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder).

After Swarajya reported the case, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) intervened. So far, the commission has directed the police to submit an inquiry report into the case thrice - on 10 December, on 16 December and 20 December.

After repeated failure of the police to do so, the commission has now sought a day-to-day progress report from the investigating officer.

The official handle of the commission put out this tweet on 20 December:

The tweet roughly translates as, “A case of a 17-year-old girl’s forced religious conversion and marriage in Bihar’s Begusarai has come to the notice of the NCPCR. The investigating officer summoned by the commission has been directed to take strict action and meet the commision with a day-to-day progress report on the case on 26 December.”

NCPCR chairman Priyank Kanoongo told this correspondent last week that conversion and mariage of a minor is a grave violation of child-related laws and the commission is taking a strict view of it. “Conversion when the child is still a minor is considered to be forced,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention that along with her conversion and nikah papers - that were prepared by a mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district - the accused had also Whatsapped some videos of the girl.

Watch her videos (her face has been blurred by Swarajya) here:

In the videos, the girl is seen telling the family that it was she who forced the accused to run away with her, and her family should now mind its own business. She says she is 20 years old and free to take decisions on her marriage and life.

The family told this correspondent that they have informed the local police about the Whatsapp messages but the police is not taking the investigation seriously.