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The forcible marriage of a twice-married woman with a known criminal, which is being probed by the National Commission for Women, took a new turn on Wednesday when Sultan Mian denied charges of forcible marriage.
Mian, who allegedly forced twice married Kanchan Mishra into wedlock, told rediff.com over telephone from his hideout that he would send legal documents of his marriage with Kanchan Mishra to the New Delhi based NCW office.
"I have legal proof of my marriage with her in court; there is nothing like forcible marriage," Sultan Mian said, adding he married Kanchan Mishra with her consent.
He said that the entire issue is being given communal colour by a section of people with vested interest as Mishra is a Hindu and he is a Muslim.
Mian said that he had not forced Mishra to change her religion after marriage because the relationship between two persons is based on love and nothing else.
A three-member NCW team led by its chairperson Purnima Advani had arrived on Monday to conduct a probe into the matter. Advani had asked the police to find Mishra so that the truth could be established.
Irked by the police indifference and ignorance towards finding Mishra, Advani has threatened stern action against them if they are unable to produce Mishra within 10 days.
The team is also unhappy over the fact that even six weeks after the incident the police are yet to lodge a formal complaint on the matter.
The police on their part said they have not done so due to lack of evidence that Kanchan was forcibly married. They add that even her mother Suchitra Devi has not filed a complaint.
The qazi of the mosque in question has denied performing Kanchan Mishra's marriage, saying forcible marriages were outlawed in Islam.
Police officers are reluctant to believe the story of the third marriage, saying Mishra had worked in three beauty parlours and was rumoured to be in love with Sultan Mian. "Kanchan's forcible marriage appears to be a cooked up story because she is yet to divorce her two husbands. So where is the question of forcible marriage," asked one official.
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