Great job Friends -

The NCW has taken the issue for action
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National Commission for Women start probe of Kanchan Marriage

A sustained campaign by different organisaions have finally forced National Commission For Women (NCW) to take cognizance of forcible marriage of Kanchan Mishra with a notorious criminal, Sultan Mian, in Patna. A five-member team in the leadership of Purnima Advani chairperson of the commission arrived here today and tried their best to know about the incident from different sources. The younger brother and the mother of the victim came to meet the team and denied in front of the media that it was a forcible marriage. Some media persons who earlier met them told Bihar Times that they were so terrorised and can't muster enough courage to tell the real story. The local police has taken its typical old fashioned line that they are unable to act in absence of any formal complaint lodged with any police station.

While local sources describing this incident said the victim who was working in a beauty parlour was forcibly lifted from her Mainpura residence in broad day light and taken to a local mosque for nikah ceremony. After nikah a lavish reception party was organised at the residence of RJD's state minister Ejazul Haq. And much to the surprise the officer incharge of local police station was also present in the party. Initially her family members asked for help from local police but no one came to their help because don is close to RJD MP Shahabuddin and some other political leaders. Despite media coverage no one in police bothered to locate Kanchan Mishra. Where are state women commission, women activists, state women cell of police. No one came to her rescue though some of them have taken it lightly as this was her third marriage--- Does any lady loose her dignity of being human after failure of her first or second marriage??





http://bihartimes.com/more.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/archives1/secon2.asp?cat=\story8&d=FRONT_PAGE&fdnam=dec1702

Nikah gets nasty in Bihar
Navin Upadhyay/Patna

A National Commission for Women (NCW) team visited Patna on Monday to probe the case of forcible abduction of a Hindu woman and her subsequent nikah with a Muslim criminal at a mosque in Patna.

A Hindu outfit has already announced a Rs 7.5-lakh reward for the rescue of the woman from her captors. The HinduUnity.org announced the reward after publication of the report in the Outlook magazine and a spate of reports in the local media.

"The HinduUnity.org has voted to offer a reward to any organisation, group or individual to rescue Kanchan Mishra and her four-year-old child from the gangster, Mia Sultan," the outfit said in a release circulated to newspapers. "A Rs 7.5-lakh reward has been allocated for this rescue mission and HinduUnity.org will guarantee the amount to the brave and honourable party when our sister is safely rescued. For more information, contact rescue@hinduunity.org."

Kanchan, a married woman with a 10-month child, was reportedly abducted on November 13 by Sultan Mia, a history-sheeter facing several cases of murder and assault, and forced into marriage. NCW president Purnima Advani told reporters that she had taken up the matter after going through media reports. Ms Advani met the family members of Kanchan and the SP of the women's cell, Mallar Vij.

"I have asked the police to produce Kanchan before us. We will hear her story before arriving at any conclusion," Ms Advani said. However, Ms Vij said Kanchan had married on her own accord and that it was not a case of kidnapping.

Even Kanchan's family members, including her mother, would not admit that she had been forced to marry Sultan Mia. "She went with him on her own. We have no knowledge that she was under any pressure," Kanchan's mother told reporters. Kanchan's brother, Shanker, agreed with his mother.

However, there seem to be some glaring discrepancies between what Shanker and his mother told the NWC and what they have been saying all along to local mediapersons till now.

Last week, The Pioneer had spoken to Kanchan's 12-yeard-old brother Chottu, now taking shelter at a beauty parlour, who had confirmed the incident of abduction.

"My sister was terribly disturbed for days. She was receiving threats that if she did not marry Sultan Mia, she would be killed along with us," Chottu said. Chottu works at the beauty parlor and does not know where his mother and other family members have gone after shifting their house. "I do not know where they are. We all stayed at a rented house, but when I returned there on the night of my sister's abduction, I did not find them," he said. Chottu does not have first hand knowledge about the kidnapping. "But I have heard that my sister was picked up by criminals while returning home after work. She was in a very bad state and had taken a heavy doze of tranquilisers," he said. Kanchan worked at the same beauty parlor as her brother.

Kanchan's father is dead and her third brother, a small time criminal, was killed three years ago in gang rivalry. She was first married to a tempo driver, Vinay Kumar, four years ago. Her husband was reportedly an alcoholic, who used to beat her up. Monday's development and the volte-face by Kanchan's family have only deepened the mystery.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1021217/asp/nation/story_1488626.asp

Snatch marriage under scanner
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Patna, Dec. 16: The nightmares that haunted a 24-year-old mother when she received love notes from a man linked to multiple murders, abductions and dacoities came true on a November evening when Sultan Mian descended on the beauty parlour where Kanchan Mishra worked.

Mian and his men abducted Kanchan from the Fraser Road salon even as many, including her husband, stood hapless witnesses. In a swift operation, the “rising don of Patna” married Kanchan at a mosque in the Mainpura area.

A dazzling reception was hosted days later and among others, ministers from the Rabri Devi government clinked glasses.

A team from the National Commission for Women today came here to investigate the incident that police had initially passed off as a “marriage by consent”. Several accounts of the incident have circulated in the local media.

Purnima Advani, who led the commission team, said: “We have information that the woman was abducted and married forcibly by a notorious gangster at gun-point. The woman is missing since then. No one, however, is ready to speak.”

“The commission will search the victim out and find the truth.”

Senior superintendent of police Sunil Kumar has reopened the files on the alleged abduction. The parents of the woman and her husband have agreed to depose before the commission.

“We are ready to present the facts to the commission. So far, we have learnt this was a marriage by consent. No case has been registered against Sultan,” city superintendent of police O.N. Bhaskar said.

But even a man on the street knows no one here would dare to register a case against Sultan Mian.

Kanchan’s mother, Monorama Devi, shrugged off her fears today and told the commission that a week before her abduction, her daughter had told her that she was being threatened. “If I don’t marry him (Sultan), he will kill me,” Kanchan had said.

The imam of the Mainpura mosque denied there was any marriage there. “I would have known had there been any,” he said.

Kanchan had told a few NGOs about her fears. “The commission has a hard task on hand. It will have to explore the intricate maze of politician-mafia nexus to trace the woman,” said an NGO head.

Married to a Brahmin trader, Kanchan worked hard to supplement her husband’s modest income. Beauty parlours, after all, are a flourishing business here.

Trouble began with one of the usual police swoops on suspected sleaze parlours. She was picked up by the police and “protection” from the local strongman seemed to be the easy way out of the frequent harassments by the police and some of the customers.

Last year, Kanchan’s name was associated with Pappu Pandey, another “don”, said sources.

Eighteen-year-old Sultan holds the reins of the underworld in the better parts of west Patna, an area where the mafia thrives on illegal real estate deals and extortion.

He reportedly enjoys patronage from several members of the Rabri Cabinet. In the past two years, he has allegedly killed 12 people, including two noted industrialists.

A Rashtriya Janata Dal MP allegedly went to him before his sisters’ marriage in the Rajabazar area of the city last summer.

According to police sources, Sultan first met Kanchan at a beauty parlour on Boring Road last year and volunteered to “protect” her. She had thanked him, little knowing that it would mark the beginning of a spell of trauma.

In July, Kanchan allegedly joined the beauty parlour on Fraser Road to avoid Sultan.

Days later, the trader from Anandpuri who owned the shop was gunned down. Kanchan was warned not to work for anyone.

After the incident, Sultan “decided to marry” Kanchan, sources said.

Ever since this incident, the insecurities of Mian probably increased and he decided to “marry” Kanchan. Speculation is rife that she might have been flown abroad.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=31591459

NCW gives 10 days for recovery of woman married forcibly

PTI[ TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2002 09:52:26 PM ]

PATNA: The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday gave a ten-day deadline to top Bihar officials to find a married woman, Kanchan Mishra, allegedly abducted and forcibly married by a person in the state capital, or face stern action.


NCW Chairperson Purnima Advani told reporters in Patna that the Commission held an inquiry into the alleged kidnap and forcible marriage of Mishra, the mother of a 10-month-old son, here on the complaint of her mother Sachita Devi.


Sachita Devi complained to the Commission that her daughter was abducted by a "miscreant" Sultan Mian of Mainpuri area in the first week of November who married her by force at a city mosque, Advani who is heading a four-member NCW team to probe the incident, said.


Advani said that she gave the ultimatum of ten days to the Bihar Director General of Police R R Prasad, Additional Director General of Police, Patna Zone, Ashish Ranjan Sinha, Senior Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar and other police officials to recover Kanchan Mishra.


If the woman was not recovered and produced before the Commission within the stipulated time, the officials would be summoned and stern action taken against them, she said.


She also said that during her talks with officials, family members of Kanchan and others "we found that everybody is gripped with some sort of fear and also smelt a nexus between criminals, politicians and high officials in the incident."


Advani regretted that even after over a month, the police had not lodged a complaint on the alleged forcible marriage.

The Pioneer link given in the front page of indiacause is wrong. Please correct the link

No update on story yet! Police announce Rs. 25K to find sultan mian.
(According to first story, a DSP attended reception to that nika, so why are the police suddenly claiming innocence?)

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/dec/20bihar.htm

This author, still tries to taint the victim, by saying she was twice married before! (What has that to do with this mian abducting her?).

Thank you IndiaCause, HinduUnity and others who have taken up the cause. Finally, something is happening. Take it forward!

For unknown reasons Rediff wants to project "Innocent"
sultan Mian.

Do they not know you can get any legal piece of paper in bihar in 2 rupees?

Do women loose their respect after two marrages? Do they not have dignity after that?

I am very sad to read rediff "criminal supportive" reporting.

What these orgnisations are doing? org.s like RSS, VHP..what are they doing?

in gujrat riots, there were people who killed innocent hindus and muslims. So instead of wasting their frustration in killing innocent people, why not go, rescue this lady and if the side effect of that is to this rapist 'sultan mia' and other criminal politicians getting whats coming to them then so be it!

It is lot more effective this way..as this tells fanatics that hindus wont take it lying down..
See how americans do it....the whole country & its people do whatever it takes to ensure their safety and wellbeing..After 9/11 they went after those terrorists and what did indian govt.do after 12/13??

I agree with the post above (by humanbeing!)

Here's a part of article from Daily Pioneer (Dec 30, 02, "Daydreams don't win elections" written by Sandhya Jain) criticising BJP for inaction on this issue:
Lekin ye Hajjpayee kya karega!!

"At the same time, if one of the ills facing the BJP is the excessive concern of its geriatric leadership with its own position, an equally serious problem is that this sickness can also be detected in a younger generation of leaders in some States where the party is in opposition. Having got control of the State party apparatus as a result of patronage from central leaders, these men are reluctant to build the party at grassroots level by taking up issues of popular concern.


To cite but one instance, Patna has for the past one month been rocked by the scandal of the daylight abduction of a beautiful married woman by a notorious gangster, Sultan Mia. The news magazine which broke the story stated that she had been forcefully married in a mosque in the Mainpura locality (subsequently denied by the Imam of the said mosque in a deposition before the National Commission for Women). The catch is that the lady, Ms Kanchan Misra, is legally married to another man, whom she has not divorced. Her mother and brother have deposed before the NCW that, in the weeks before the abduction, she feared for her life and that of her family.



One of the scandalous aspects of this sordid story was that the supposed 'nikah' was blessed by RJD Minister Ejazul Haq, who hosted a reception party that was attended by the officer-in-charge of the local police station, among others. A senior police official confirmed to the NCW that a party had been held after the wedding. What emerged from the Commission's investigations is that police and Administration alike are unwilling to get involved in the case, as Sultan Mia is a protégé of the infamous RJD MP from Siwan, Mohammed Shahabuddin.



Despite a strong NCW directive to arrest and prosecute Sultan Mia and produce Ms Kanchan Misra before the Commission within a fortnight, the lady remained in illegal custody at the time of writing this piece.



Most national dailies have steered clear of the controversy out of sensitivity for the feelings of Chief Minister Rabri Devi and RJD supremo Laloo Yadav, MP, who was never once questioned by the media about restoring the woman to her lawful family throughout the recent winter session of Parliament!



But what takes the cake is the behaviour of the State BJP leadership, which acts as if issues of abduction, rape, and law and order, are routine hazards of life, against which they cannot be expected to stir themselves! With leaders like this, neither Ram nor Modi can save the party. "