Varanasi court remands love-birds back to Bihar

Varanasi, May 7 (UNI) A young Muslim girl and her Hindu lover, who married in Varanasi in March against the wishes of the former's family, were sent on transit remand to their home state Bihar, following an order by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) here today.

CJM Aniruddh Maurya, hearing the Bihar Police application to seek the custody of Shagufta Farin and Mithilesh Kumar for presentation in a court in Gaya, allowed transit remaind f the couple.

The CJM also directed the people to ensure special protection to the duo, who feared for their life from Shagufta's family.

The court, however, denied permission to Shagufta to make a statement in the court under section 164 of IPC as an FIR against Mithilesh for kidnapping her had been registered at the Gurua police station in Gaya (Bihar).

Shagufta, a teacher at an Urdu Primary School in Siseri village of Gaya district of Bihar, married her lover Mithilesh Kumar, also a teacher at the same school, here on February 26 against the wishes of her family.

''We had eloped from Gaya on February 17, following opposition to from my family. My parents assisted by a relative and RJD MLA from Gaya, Shakil Ahmad Khan registered a case of abduction against my husband and with active support of police in Bihar, harassed his family members,'' Shagufta alleged before local media today.

While in hideout at Varanasi, we first married at a Shiva temple in Kaithi and later on March 23, registered the marriage at a local court, she added.

''My family has refused to accept our marriage and with the help of police in Bihar have managed to get the relatives of Mithilesh detained. They have even threatened to convert the detention of Mithilesh's kin into a full-fledged arrest, if we failed to return,'' Shagufta alleged.

The couple further claimed that Shagufta's family, owing to their political clout in Bihar, have connived with the police to show a burnt body as that of her. ''My family wants to frame up Mithilesh in a murder case,'' she added.

Mithilesh, who has done B A and M A from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), further charged ''we have been receiving threatening calls from Shagufta's family that if we did not return to Gaya shortly, a communal riot is likely to be triggered there.'' ''We fear for our life on our return to Gaya and hence, we have applied for police protection in the CJM court today,'' Mithilesh said.

The couple alleged the goons hired by Shagufta's parents had attacked them in Varanasi on Saturday, following which they went to media.

Interestingly, both Mithilesh and Shagufta have already been married once. While the former was married to one Poornima in 1998 and has two children, the latter was allegedly forced to marry a Muslim youth in March 2006.

While Mithilesh claims he has already divorced Poornima, Shagufta claimed to have underwent 'triple-talaq' from her husband.

UNI