A section of new law on forced conversion will be added, if needed, police said (Representational)
A man has been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur on charges of kidnapping and forcibly marrying a 17-year-old girl, the police said.
In November, the girl was kidnapped and on a written complaint filed by her father, a search operation was launched.
During investigation, the police found that the accused, who belonged to a different community, had kidnapped the girl and she was rescued on Wednesday, the police said. Following her rescue, the accused, identified as Mansoor (26), was arrested, the police added.
Though the accused claimed that the girl is an adult on the basis of an Aadhaar card and also asked the police not to interfere in the matter, the girl's father presented her high school certificate, which showed her age to be 17 years, the police said.
"The girl is undergoing a medical check-up. As per her high school marksheet, she is 17 years old," police officer Santosh Yadav said.
The man has been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for "kidnapping" and "abducting or inducing woman to compel her for marriage", he said, adding that a section of the new law on forced conversion will be added, if required.
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