Ghaziabad interfaith couple: As family again alleges woman kidnapped, she says ‘left house as per my wish’

“I, Sonika, on July 30, around 2 pm, left my house as per my wish… Since last two months, my parents and some other people, including Meena Bhandari, Harish Karakoti, Kapil Tyagi, my maternal uncle Vikram Rawat and my paternal uncle Jagdish Singh Chauhan, had been torturing me physically and mentally… they wanted me to give a statement against Akbar in court and frame him under POCSO (Act) and put him behind bars. But I protested… I will only tell the truth,” she is heard saying in the video.

Speaking to The Indian Express, DCP (Trans-Hindon) Patil Nimish Dasharath said the family has filed a complaint and soon an FIR will be registered in the case. The investigating officer of the case, added that the family, in the complaint, has alleged that Akbar entered their house, abducted their daughter and stole Rs 50,000 in cash and jewellery.

The matter had first come to light on May 25, when Sonika’s father, Laxman Singh Chauhan, filed a complaint with the Indirapuram police station, accusing Akbar of kidnapping Sonika.

The Ghazibad Police had then raided Akbar’s home in the Nyay Khand area of Indirapuram and “handed over” Sonika to her parents. Following this, the police had arrested Akbar, his two sisters, sister-in-law, and a neighbour. A group of around 60 men had also attacked Akbar’s shop and vandalised it.

A purported video had surfaced before Akbar’s arrest, in which Sonika could be heard saying that she wanted to stay with him and that they had secretly gotten married at a Delhi SDM office under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 in August 2022. They, however, did not immediately start staying together.

In Wednesday’s video, Sonika is heard saying that she had recorded her statement before the magistrate. “Since my statements were not in accordance with what my family wanted me to say… they started threatening me,” she said.

“I had said before the magistrate that I wanted to stay with my family… thinking that both the families would live peacefully. But now they are forcing me to give another statement against Akbar…,” she said, adding that she does not want to stay with her family anymore.