Case against 5 for forcing woman to marry her friend, making fake marriage certificate in Palghar

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Police have registered a case against five persons in Maharashtra's Palghar district for allegedly kidnapping a 22-year-old woman, forcing her to marry her male friend and giving her a fake marriage certificate in Palghar, an official said on Monday, reported news agency PTI.

The woman, a B.Com student and daughter of a jewellery shop owner in Dahanu area, called her male friend sometime back to inform that her family had decided to get her married to someone else.

Later, the man threatened to commit suicide if she failed to marry him, an official from Dahanu police station said, reported PTI.

On March 30, the man took the victim to his house in Dahanu to meet his family members. He allegedly gave her sedative-laced food laced and after consuming it, she fell unconscious.

The woman was then allegedly driven by the accused to Umbargaon (in Valsad district of neighbouring Gujarat), asked to sign some papers and then taken to a temple where she was forcibly married to him, the official said, reported PTI.

The man then drove the victim back to her house and warned her of dire consequences if she indulged in any activity against him and his family.

On April 14, the man forwarded her a copy of the fake marriage certificate in Palghar on which the wedding date was mentioned as March 30, 2021 and the place as gram panchayat at Sulia, Kaparada, Valsad, which the woman claimed to have never visited, the official said, reported PTI.

Based on her complaint, the Dahanu police on Saturday registered case against the man, his father, sister, uncle and an advocate under Indian Penal Code sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her for marriage, etc), 465, 466, 468, 471 (all for forgery), 496 (marriage ceremony fraudulently gone through without lawful marriage), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention), he added.

(With inputs from PTI)