Father's bail plea in girl-dog wedding case rejected

Father's bail plea in girl-dog wedding case rejected
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

KALYANI (WB), JULY 17: The bail prayers of the father of four-year old Anju, who was married to a dog for `warding off the evil eye' and another person were on Monday rejected by the sub-divisional judicial magistrate who remanded them to Ranaghat jail custody till July 27.

Subal Karmakar, father of Anju and Biswabandhu Karmakar, and his close associate were arrested following an FIR lodged with the Haringhata police station by a local resident Swapan Dulal Roy alleging that such a marriage "was socially condemnable and a great blow to Hindu religion".

The Karmakars were arrested under Section 7 of Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act of 1954 and Sections 295a (deliberate and malicious act to hurt someone's religious belief) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC from Khordah Mohanpur village in Nadia district.

Rejecting the bail prayers, SDJM, Mir Dara Shekho said "I am of the view that the grant of bail at this stage may convey a wrong message to society."

Opposing the bail petitions, Luxmi Kanta Sarkar, assistant public prosecutor, said this marriage was an "insult to Hindu religion."

Anju, the youngest daughter of Karmakar, was married off to a mongrel, belonging to one of his relatives, with all traditional rituals on July 10.

Karmakar, an employee of the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, had said while defending his daughter's marriage to a canine that she "had to be married to a dog to ward off the evil eye."