Madhya Pradesh man acquitted in interfaith marriage case after fiancée turns hostile

A court in Madhya Pradesh's Narmadapuram district has acquitted a 26-year-old man who was arrested last year after he and his fiancée, who belonged to different faiths, went to Bhopal to marry under the Special Marriage Act.

Saiyyad Khan and the woman, who were neighbours, had been in a relationship for about a year before deciding to marry. On February 7, 2025, they travelled by bus to the state capital carrying the documents they believed were needed. Inside the Bhopal district court, a group of lawyers assaulted Khan.

He was subsequently arrested on charges of forcing his partner to convert to Islam and marry him. The woman lodged a complaint against him, which Khan has said was made under pressure from her family. At later hearings, however, she did not stand by the allegations.

How the case collapsed

The prosecution alleged that Khan had pressured the woman to change her name and religion, telling her she would be called "Rehana Khan" after converting, and that she had agreed to marry him and travelled with him to Bhopal on that basis.

During trial, the woman did not support the prosecution's case and was declared hostile. According to the court's observations, she denied several key allegations — that Khan had called her to meet him at the bus stand, that she had gone to Bhopal with him instead of appearing for an examination, or that he had persuaded her to convert. She told the court that she had left home voluntarily and had herself asked the accused to marry her.

She also denied that Khan had told her she would be given the name "Rehana Khan" after the nikah, or that he had persuaded, induced or threatened her to convert.

The complainant and her mother both denied knowledge of the alleged statement that the accused would convert her religion and change her name to Rehana. They also denied that the family had been called to Bhopal after she objected to the alleged conversion at the court.

The woman's mother told the court that her daughter had gone of her own free will, while her brother denied that Khan had taken her to Bhopal by inducing her for the purpose of religious conversion. The mother also admitted that, by the time of the proceedings, she had arranged her daughter's marriage elsewhere.

The court noted that the complainant and her mother, two important prosecution witnesses, had not fully supported the prosecution's account. In cross-examination, the complainant said police officers had obtained her signatures on several papers under pressure and had recorded her statement before a magistrate's court. She acknowledged that after the incident she had no communication with the accused.

Archana Raghuvanshi, Second District and Additional Sessions Judge, Pipariya, acquitted Khan on September 8 after the main witnesses, including the woman and her family members, did not support the prosecution case.

A life upended

Khan, who worked as a machine operator at a factory before the case, lost his job soon after the incident and did not work for nearly a year. He said he was driven away from his home and that local villagers pelted his family with stones.

His fiancée married another man from the locality after his arrest. Khan said the last time he saw her was in court, when she was defending him.

"I wish to finally move on from this. I am happy with the verdict even though there is a lot of sadness for what I have lost," he said.