Dadri: In Indian, religion has been a very dominant influence in marriage and is considered social taboo if it happened out of faith.
After Akhlaq’s lyanching, the Dadri town became notorious and fearing a resurgence of the incident, officials refused to make Hindu-Muslim couple marriage registered even after 6 months.
The authorities allegedly refused to make Manjeet Bhati, 24, and Salma, 20 marriage registered as it may sparks religious riots.
According to IndiaToday reports, Manjeet and Salma, later changed her name to Sapna Arya fled from Chitehra village, Dadri on October 19 last year and soon after, Salma adopted Hinduism and they both tied the knot at an Arya Samaj temple.
Over the past five months, they frequently visited government offices and met senior district officers, but received no support.
“We went to the marriage registrar in January but he said that he will not register our marriage as I was a Hindu and my wife a Muslim and this could ignite violence in the area. I assured him that no local has a problem with our marriage and our village is quite peaceful, but still he refused and also demanded Rs 20, 000,” Manjeet said.
A 50-year-old man, Mohammad Akhlaq, was killed by a lynch-mob and his 22-year-old son severely injured in UP’s Dadri over rumours that he had eaten beef.