Calcutta High Court refuses to quash FIR against man, family booked for kidnapping and forcibly marrying girl

The Calcutta High Court Tuesday refused to quash charges of kidnapping and rape against a man and two of his family members booked for kidnapping, raping and forcibly marrying a Muslim girl [Monu Kumar @ Abhimanyu Kumar vs State of West Bengal]..Single-judge Justice Shampa Dutt (Paul) said there was prima facie strong case against the man who married the girl and his sister and brother-in-law, who were the witnesses to the alleged forced marriage.The bench, however, quashed the proceedings against the man's mother, stating that the material on record fell short to prosecute her."There is neither any material on record nor a prima facie case against the petitioner no.2 mother of the principal accused no. 1 for the offences alleged in this case. Accordingly the proceedings are liable to be quashed only in respect of her. There being a strong prima facie case against rest of the petitioners, their prayer for quashing of the proceedings against them is liable to be dismissed/rejected," the judge held..The case pertained to the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by one Md Taiyab Ali on June 19, 2017 at Jamuria, Paschim Bardhaman district. He alleged that on the said day, when his daughter went to pray at Raniganj Mazar at about 8 am and when she did not return home after a considerable period of time, he and his other family members searched for her but to no avail. He suspected that some unknown persons had kidnapped his daughter and kept her in some secret place for their ill motive.It was unearthed during the investigation that the victim girl, who was little over 18 years of age had married the petitioner, who was already a married person.Subsequently, on October 29, 2017, the complainant family, allegedly armed with weapons along with some other men, barged into the house of the petitioner and tried to take away the victim girl along with them. This resulted in a criminal case being lodged at the instance of the victim girl against her own parents.The bench noted, "The marriage certificate in respect of the marriage between the petitioner no.1 and the alleged victim (of different faith and religion) is of June 24, 2017. The petitioners no. 3 and 4 (sister and brother-in-law) are witnesses to the marriage.".Therefore, the bench refused to quash the FIR as against the first petitioner and sister and brother-in-law..Advocates Pawan Kumar Gupta, Sofia Nesar, Santanu Sett and Kanchan Roy appeared for the Petitioner.Public Prosecutor SG Mukerji and advocate Saryati Datta represented the State.Advocate Kunal Ganguly appeared for the Complainant..[Read Judgment]