One year on & three months after FIR, UP cleric arrested in fake nikah, halala gang rape case

New Delhi: Nearly three months after the incident first came to the spotlight, a cleric has been arrested in the Amroha triple talaq and halala case, with the survivor claiming that he used fake documents to facilitate the February 2025 nikah, which led to her being gang-raped on the pretext of halala. The woman said she was forced into marriage at the age of 15 and given two instant triple talaqs, an arrangement she claimed formed part of a wider pattern of sexual exploitation. toy It was reported on January 23 that the case initially started as a complaint under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 or the Triple Talaq Act, and was later expanded to include investigations under the PoKSO Act, child marriage, coercion, rape and criminal conspiracy. There are currently eight defendants in the case, and survivors claim Halala’s arrangements were planned in advance.The accused, Maulana Nadeem, was arrested shortly after midnight on April 9 at around 1 am, with the survivor claiming that he used a ‘farzi’ (fake paper) to make her believe that the marriage was valid. She said this was done for sexual exploitation in the name of halala, under which remarriage is only allowed after a woman marries another man and consummates the marriage, ending in a natural divorce.She said she was forced into marriage at the age of 15 and given two instant triple talaqs and forced to undergo such arrangements multiple times. In her account, Nadim played a key role in one of the incidents, helping to create the image of a legitimate nikah and later facilitating what she described as a “gang rape under the pretext of halala.”“Maulana Nadeem was arrested from the jurisdiction of Nagli police station around 1 am,” Vikas Sahrawat said. toy . He added that Nadeem “has been sent to Binol prison”.