UP: 35-Year-Old Husband Among 5 Booked In Child Marriage Case In Bahraich

The girl and her mother have accused that she was pressured by her in-laws to have physical relations with her husband, a police officer said.

They also accused the girl's uncle, Khelavan, of issuing threats to get her married.

Sub-inspector Mahesh Prasad, who is investigating the case, said on Monday that the girl and her mother approached the Superintendent of Police over the matter on Saturday.

In her complaint to the police, the girl wrote that her father died a few years ago and she was living with her mother in Bahraich city.

They were very poor and due to her father's death, her uncle Khelavan would constantly put pressure on her mother to get her married, she said.

A year back, Khelavan threatened them and got her married to Pankaj, a resident of Sahasalampur village. After marriage, husband Pankaj took her to her in-laws' house, she said in the complaint.

It is alleged that her in-laws -- Pankaj and brother-in-law used to lock her in the house, beat her and put pressure on her to have physical relations with Pankaj.

The girl said she fled from her in-laws' house one day and went back to her mother. The mother and daughter reached the Superintendent of Police office on Saturday and narrated their ordeal.

On Saturday, on the orders of the SP, a case was registered against Khelavan, Pankaj, brothers-in-law Vinod and Hanumant and father-in-law Jokhu at Fakharpur police station.

The case has been registered under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the IPC and Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, police said.

The sub-inspector said the entire matter will be investigated thoroughly, based on which further action will be taken.