A rape victim was pressurised to marry her abuser after being coerced into changing her religion, reported The Times of India. She was then tricked into having her five-month-old fetus aborted at a hospital in Mumbai. She is from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and first met the accused while she was employed for almost seven years in Bahrain. The primary perpetrator has been identified as Saifuddin, a resident of Karnataka. His former fiancee and his family members are additionally charged with harassing the woman for dowry, pushing her to convert from Hinduism to Islam and committing other offences.
She stated that the two met and grew intimate while working in Bahrain in her complaint and disclosed, “One day, he raped me in Bahrain, and I lodged a rape complaint there. While the matter was under investigation, Saifuddin and his family members persuaded me to withdraw the complaint after I became five months pregnant as a result of the rape. They also pressured me to change my religion. Later, on February 13, 2024, I was married to Saifuddin according to Muslim law. In due course, Saifuddin tricked me into visiting Mumbai for a medical consultation, and I was admitted to a hospital where the doctors secretly aborted the five-month-old fetus.”
She mentioned that she was brought to the culprit’s house in Karnataka’s Beedar where she was subjected to physical and psychological abuse by his elder brother, fiancee Monika, and other family members. The police have registered a case for dowry-related harassment against the offenders, including Saifuddin, who is still missing, based on Station House Officer (SHO) Gudamba NK Srivastava.