Bhopal: It was 2:30 am on January 24 when the Indore police came knocking at 30-year-old Asif Shaikh’s two-room house in Azad Nagar, taking his elderly parents and pregnant wife by surprise. It was a bad omen for the Shaikh family, who are still trying to understand why their son was taken off an Ajmer-bound train by members of the Bajrang Dal after they found Asif travelling with a Hindu woman, Sakshi Jain, and accused him of committing ‘love jihad’.
It had come as some relief to Asif and his family that Jain, after being abruptly taken to the Ujjain railway police station, had stood firm and denied that Asif had pressurised her in any way.
According to Asif’s mother Mumtaz Shaikh (50), Asif had known Jain since 2016, when she married his school friend Aman Yadav.
But nearly 10 days after the train episode, neither Mumtaz nor anyone else in the family had the slightest idea what the police might have come looking for late at night. “Before we could even ask them what they were looking for, the police barged into our house and began questioning us like we were some hardened criminals, without any warrant or anything in hand. It was after some time that we were told that Asif had loaned money to some people and they wanted to question Asif over it,” said Mumtaz.
Mumtaz was asked to bring Asif to the police station the next morning for the required questioning. It was only after reaching the police station with Asif that Mumtaz was told that he has been booked for forceful religious conversion along with extortion on a complaint made by Sakshi Jain the night before.
Jain approached the Mhow police station at 11 pm on January 23 and submitted a written application alleging that Asif secretly took objectionable photos of her and began blackmailing her. He was also pressurising her to convert in a bid to get married, the complain alleged. The police booked Asif under Section 384 (punishment for extortion) of the IPC and Sections 3 (prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another) and 5 (punishments for contravention of Section 3) of the MP Freedom of Religion Act, 2021.
This comes in sharp contrast to the statement given by the superintendent of police for Ujjain GRP, Nivedita Gupta, who had clarified that the parents of both Sakshi Jain and Asif Shaikh were called to the police station and after it was learnt that the two are family friends, the two were let go.
Speaking to The Wire, Gupta had then said, “As they were two consenting adults and there was no crime, the two were let go.” In another video of the incident from inside the railway police station at Ujjain, Jain was seen shouting at the Bajrang Dal men saying, “Your one misunderstanding will spoil my life. I work as a teacher and teach children.”
It’s only after Jain said in a written statement that the two are family friends, travelling to Ajmer with their families’ consent, that the police did not file an FIR and handed the two over to their parents. The videos of the two being taken off the train, with Asif was being beaten up by Bajrang Dal men on the way to the police station, had gone viral on social media and made national headlines.
“The cops did not reveal that Sakshi has lodged an FIR of forceful conversion. It was only while arresting Asif that the police revealed that he was booked for extortion and forceful conversion in a case filed by Sakshi,” said Mumtaz.
Admitting to this, Arun Solanki, station house in-charge of the Mhow police station, said, “The FIR was lodged around 11 pm on a written application made by the victim Sakshi Jain on January 23. And we have gone to Asif’s home to question his family member at midnight. We arrested Asif only after his mother brought him to the police station the following day around 2 pm.”
The following day, Asif was produced before the court and sent to Mhow jail.
Sessions judge Sashi Singh of Dr Ambedkar Nagar Court in Indore rejected Asif’s bail application after the police claimed “his bail may create furore and communal tension may erupt”.
Despite repeated attempts, Jain and her husband Aman Yadav refused to comment when asked about their friendship with Asif. “We will not comment. Aapko jo likhna hai likho (You write whatever you want),” both said over the phone before disconnecting the call.
Asif’s mother, Mumtaz, claimed that Aman, Sakshi and Asif were friends and often visited each other’s homes. “Asif and Aman are schoolmates. When Asif got married in November 2021, Sakshi and Aman played an important role. Asif’s wife was also familiar with Aman and Sakshi,” said Mumtaz.
She added that Jain has even given Asif Rs 20,000 as a loan after his business suffered during the two COVID-19-induced lockdowns.
When asked about the January 14 incident, when Bajrang Dal men assaulted the duo at the Ujjain railway station, Mumtaz said, “We know that Asif was going to Ajmer with his friend. Asif’s wife and I together packed his luggage. They had a return ticket for the following day.”
Not only has Asif’s bail plea been rejected, Mumtaz was also denied an appointment to meet her in jail when she tried on February 1. According to Mumtaz, after she went to meet the jailer seeking an appointment to see Asif, she was told that Asif has tested positive for COVID-19.
“The jailer first refused to fix an appointment upon hearing Asif’s name and then claimed that he has tested COVID-19 positive. For all I know they may kill my son in the garb of COVID inside the jail and we will have no way to find out,” said Mumtaz, trying to hold her tears.
This story first appeared on thewire.in