Forcible marriage slur on TMC man

Durgapur, June 17: A 14-year-old girl in Durgapur was allegedly abducted from her home by a Trinamul worker who married her in a temple and forced her into a physical relationship before she was rescued following a court order. The girl’s mother tried to lodge a kidnapping complaint against the Trinamul worker but police allegedly registered a missing persons diary. The local Trinamul councillor also tried to persuade the girls’ parents to settle the matter amicably in presence of the police. However the girl, who is a Class VII student in a Hindi-medium school, was produced in the Durgapur additional chief judicial magistrate’s court by the police and handed over to her parents on May 3 after her father, a security guard at a housing complex in Delhi, filed a case of kidnapping in court. The girl’s family alleged that for the past one-and-a-half months, local Trinamul workers and the police have been threatening it with dire consequences if the case is not withdrawn. On Friday, the girl’s elder brother was allegedly beaten up by Trinamul workers. The girl’s parents today lodged a complaint with the sub-divisional officer of Durgapur, Kasturi Sengupta. The accused Trinamul worker, 20-year-old Sukanta Lohar, and some of his relatives allegedly abducted the girl on April 17. They took her to a Kali temple in Asansol. Lohar allegedly bribed the priest to perform the rituals. “The priest had initially refused as I am a minor. But when Lohar offered him money, he agreed. After the temple marriage, Lohar took me to his elder sister’s in-law’s home in Purulia town and forced me into a physical relation,” the girl said. The Trinamul councillor of ward number 5 of Durgapur Municipal Corporation, Krishnendu Acharya, called the girl and the party worker to his office on April 21 after the girl’s mother approached the police. Acharya allegedly tried to persuade the girls’ parents to settle the matter amicably in presence of the police but the girl protested. “The Trinamul councillor told me that my parents were poor and nobody would marry me after what had happened to me. He asked me to accept the marriage. But I refused and said I am a schoolgirl and wanted to study,” the girl said today after meeting the SDO. A lawyer in the Durgapur court said the marriage was illegal as the girl was a minor. “The marriage is illegal. Besides, registration of marriage is compulsory now,” he said. The girl’s father moved the court and lodged a kidnapping case against Lohar and his relatives on April 25. The police produced the girl in court on May 2, following a directive. The family alleged that since then, local Trinamul workers and some policemen have been threatening them. “The police and local Trinamul workers have been threatening us to withdraw the complaint. They beat up my son while he was returning from work on Friday. The police initially refused to accept the complaint when I went to the local B-zone outpost but later registered it following my lawyer’s intervention,” the girl’s father said. “The police told me I would not be able to continue with the case for long given my economic constraints. They told me to withdraw the case. The local Trinamul workers threatened to drive us out of the town. I told the SDO about my plight,” the father said. Asked why Lohar had not been arrested even though the court had ordered so, the police said the accused was absconding. The SDO said she had received a complaint and necessary action would be taken