‘Love Jihad’ in Barak Valley: Man lures housewife; caught at Patharkandi station

A couple, including a Muslim youth and a Hindu housewife, was caught by residents and members of some organisations at Patharkandi railway station in Karimganj district on Thursday.

According to sources, the incident took place on Thursday afternoon when the couple, which was on its way to Guwahati in a train, was caught by local residents and members of some organisations including Bajrang Dal and Durga Bahini at Patharkandi railway station, around 85km from Silchar.

The matter was informed to the police after which a team of officials from Patharkandi police station reached the spot, took the duo to the police station and interrogated them, sources said.

Another source said the housewife got introduced with the youth Jamal Hussain (25) through a missed call few days back. Eventually, they started talking over phone and their relationship developed. Jamal, father of Faruque Hussain, hails from Chagolmua village under the jurisdiction of Bazaricherra police station in Patharkandi constituency in Karimganj district, while the housewife, mother of two kids, is a resident of Uripok in Manipur. Jamal told the housewife that he belongs from Hindu community and his name is Bablu Das, the source said.

The housewife thereafter came to Jirighat at her relative’s home in the process of eloping with the youth. On June 10, the duo went together to Patharkandi and then went to Dharmanagar, where they stayed in a hotel for three days. In the hotel, the youth registered his name as Babul Miya and her as Babli Sheikh. At that time, the housewife grew suspicious by the youth’s body language. The hotel staff, too, smelled “something fishy” about the couple and kept an eye on their activities, the source said.

The medical examination of the duo will be done and they will be produced before a court on Friday.