A 30-year-old Indian man illegally crossed into Pakistan to meet a Facebook friend he wished to marry, but instead found himself behind bars. The woman he traveled to meet later told the local police she had no intention of marrying him.
Badal Babu, from the Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested last week in Mandi Bahauddin district, located in Pakistan’s Punjab province, around 240 km from Lahore, for illegally crossing the border.
Babu’s intention was to meet his Facebook friend, Sana Rani, whom he hoped to marry. However, in her statement to the police, Sana Rani, 21, clarified that she wasn’t interested in marrying him.
“In her statement to police, Sana Rani says that Babu and she have been friends on Facebook for the last two-and-a-half years. But she is not interested in marrying him,” Punjab police officer Nasir Shah told PTI on Thursday.
Babu had illegally crossed the border and arrived at Sana Rani’s Maung village in Mandi Bahauddin, where he was arrested by authorities.
When asked whether Babu met Rani, the police officer said he couldn’t confirm this.
It has not been independently confirmed whether Rani gave the statement refusing to marry Babu under any pressure.
However, a source told PTI that intelligence agency officials questioned Rani and her family members about her relationship with Babu. After his arrest, Babu shared his “love story” with the police. He was detained under Pakistan’s Foreign Act sections 13 and 14 for traveling without legal documentation.
Babu was later presented before a court, which placed him in judicial custody for 14 days. The next hearing is set for January 10.
This incident is not the first time someone from India has crossed into Pakistan to meet a love interest from social media. Previously, an Indian woman named Anju traveled to Pakistan to meet her lover, converted to Islam, and married a Pakistani man, Nasrullah.
Last year, Seema Haider, a woman from Pakistan, befriended an Indian man through the PUBG game. She crossed into India via Nepal with her four children and later married him.
Similarly, last year, 19-year-old Pakistani girl Iqra Jiwani developed a friendship with 25-year-old Indian national Mulayam Singh Yadav through an online game. Iqra and Mulayam later married in Nepal.
