HC bail for man accused of lying about his religion, marrying national-level shooter

The Jharkhand High Court on Saturday granted bail to Raqibul Hassan alias Ranjit Kohli, who was arrested five years ago on a complaint from national-level air rifle shooter Tara Shahdeo that he had lied to her about his religion and married her.

Acting Chief Justice H C Mishra allowed Hassan's bail plea on the ground that he had spent five years in judicial custody.

The court granted the bail on the condition that Hassan should deposit his passport, not influence witnesses and appear in the trial court on every date of hearing.

If any of the conditions were flouted, then the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was handed over the case in 2015, was at liberty to move the court for cancellation of bail, the court ruled.

The bench also asked Hassan to deposit cash sureties of Rs 15,000 each.

Hassan was arrested on August 26, 2014 in New Delhi after Shahdeo filed an FIR against him at the Hindpiri police station here the same year, accusing him of marrying her after lying to her about his religion and physically torturing her.

Shahdeo hails from Ranchi and her marriage with Hassan, which was termed "love jihad", took place in 2014.

She had filed a divorce petition on January 6, 2017 and the principal judge of the family court, B K Gautam, had on June 27, 2018, granted the divorce on the ground that the accused had lied about his religion and subsequently subjected Shahdeo to domestic and physical violence and allegedly exerted pressure on her to change her religion.

On July 27 this year, a CBI court framed charges against Hassan and four of his alleged associates in connection with the case.

The charges were framed under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 212 (harbouring an offender).