Ghaziabad woman reiterates interfaith marriage was her choice, seeks protection amid family’s abduction allegation
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A fresh controversy has emerged in Ghaziabad after the family of a 25-year-old woman, Sonika Chauhan, approached Indirapuram police on Wednesday, claiming that she had been kidnapped again - this time from their home.
This complaint comes nearly two months after a similar incident in which her father accused her in-laws of abduction, only for Sonika to assert that she had voluntarily married 29-year-old Akbar Khan.
Shortly after the new complaint was filed, a video began circulating in which Sonika refuted the kidnapping claim and reiterated her wish to live with her husband. In the video, she named multiple individuals - including family members - alleging that they had harassed her and pressured her to falsely implicate Akbar.
“I, Sonika, on July 30, around 2 pm, left my house as per my wish… Since last two months, my parents and some other people, including Meena Bhandari, Harish Karakoti, Kapil Tyagi, my maternal uncle Vikram Rawat and my paternal uncle Jagdish Singh Chauhan, had been torturing me physically and mentally… they wanted me to give a statement against Akbar in court and frame him under POCSO (Act) and put him behind bars. But I protested… I will only tell the truth,” she said in the video.
Sonika has also written to the Ghaziabad District Magistrate requesting police protection, police confirmed on Wednesday.
According to DCP (Trans-Hindon) Patil Nimish Dasharath, the family’s complaint is being reviewed, and an FIR will soon be registered. The complaint alleges that Akbar forcibly entered their residence, abducted Sonika, and stole Rs 50,000 in cash and jewellery.
The situation first came into public view on May 25, when Sonika’s father, Laxman Singh Chauhan, lodged a complaint accusing Akbar of kidnapping her. Police had traced Sonika to Akbar’s residence in Indirapuram’s Nyay Khand area and subsequently returned her to her family. Akbar was arrested, along with two of his sisters, his sister-in-law, and a neighbour. His shop was also attacked and vandalised by a group of around 60 men.
At the time, a video had surfaced in which Sonika stated that she had married Akbar under the Special Marriage Act at a Delhi SDM office in August 2022 and wished to live with him. However, the couple had not begun living together immediately.
In her latest video, Sonika claims she had initially chosen to stay with her family in the hope of achieving harmony between the two sides. “Since my statements were not in accordance with what my family wanted me to say… they started threatening me,” she said.
“I had said before the magistrate that I wanted to stay with my family… thinking that both the families would live peacefully. But now they are forcing me to give another statement against Akbar…,” she added. “I do not want to stay with my family anymore.”