Police under pressure to locate Hindu girl who eloped with a Muslim friend

SURAT: Police in Tapi and Surat districts are facing pressure from family and saffron groups after a 22-year-old Hindu woman eloped with a 24-year-old Muslim friend. Those pressurising police are demanding to bring back the woman while police investigation so far have revealed that the woman had an affair with the man for past two years and she eloped willingly. They became friends at a college in Bardoli.

Sejal Patel, 22, a resident of Valod village in Tapi district, went missing from near Ena village in limits of Palsana police station of Surat district on May 6. A day later her family filed a missing person’s report in Palsana police station. The family alleged that Sejal believed to have eloped with Mohommad Nawaz Hanif Malek, 26, a resident of Valod village. The woman was sent to live at her uncle’s home in Palsana 10 days before she went missing after the family came to know that she is planning to elope with the man.

Nawaz and Sejal got their marriage registered in registrar of marriage office in Vyara around a month ago. Few days later Sejal submitted it in writing that she wants to cancel her marriage registration. Later, she was sent to stay at Palsana from where she disappeared. Police have searched at various locations to locate her but they failed.
“The girl was forcibly or by blackmailing taken along by the man. We are demanding that police should rescue her,” said Kulin Pradhan, district coordinator of Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM) in Vyara. HJM with other groups organised a rally recently in Vyara and submitted a memorandum with demand to bring back the woman. Two days later the groups also held ‘Ram Dhun’ outside Valod police station.
“The woman’s missing report is registered in Palsana police station but her home is in Valod of Tapi district hence the family and some groups took out a rally in Vyara with demand that she is brought back. There is no tension in the district and situation is normal,” said MN Patel, deputy superintendent of police, Tapi.
The family received a notarised document in which Sejal claimed that she is married to Nawaz. They believed to have got married in Malegaon of Maharashtra. Nawaz was employed as driver at a lawyer’s office in Bardoli while the woman was not working. Both have graduated from Bardoli Arts College and they came in contact of each other during college studies.

by Yagnesh Bharat Mehta via Surat News, Latest Surat News Headlines & Live Updates - Times of India