Baby Debnath, 29 years old lady and daughter of late Haren Chandra Debnath, is a resident of Arjunpur village under the jurisdiction of police station of Gazole in Malda district. The following is a harrowing tale of an innocent girl who has joined the bandwagon of unfortunate girls betrayed by the saga of love jihad. According to her own testimony, Mahbul Alam, son of Habiruddin Sarkar inhabiting the same village, promised her a job seven years back from today. Under his sway she went to several places under one false pretext or the other. She was also compelled to gratify his carnal desires that led to her pregnancy. When Baby confronted her with her situation, Mahbul assured to marry her and also to let her follow religion. Within the next few days, a nikahnama (Islamic marriage) took place where her name was changed to Baby Sultana without her own knowledge! But when she gave birth to a girl child dashing Mahbul’s hopes for a son, life quickly turned into a hell for her.

Mahbul Alam, unlike her previous experiences, appeared as a tyrant now. He brushed aside his solemn promises made before marriage and asked Baby to convert into Islam. This was just the beginning and with each passing day, this pressure continued to rise. Whenever she refused to convert to a Muslim, Baby was thrashed mercilessly. Mahbul was equally helped by Maleka Bibi, Mahbul’s mother, and the joint atrocity knew no bounds for poor Baby. At last, she gave in and agreed for conversion. But this accord failed to impress Mahbul; he was more interested to dispose of Baby. He planned to take Baby to another state and sell her off to the flesh trade. When Baby heard Mahbul to discuss this secret plan to someone in telephone, she refused to accompany him. Thus began the second spate of inhuman torture for Baby and she was completely devastated both mentally and physically. It was around 10.30 pm on 25th May when Mahbul started to batter Baby with a large wooden stick that had thorns made of iron. She sustained heavy injuries but even this failed to evoke any sympathy; Mahbul went on admonishing and even attempted to strangulate her. She was also told to consume poison and free Mahbul. To save herself, shattered Baby Debnath returned to her paternal residence next day after a gap of several years. She was admitted to Gazole hospital by her relatives. Later, a formal complaint was lodged by her against Mahbul Alam to the police station of Gajol demanding justice. But no interrogation has taken place yet as Mahbul Alam is an influential leader of Trinamool Congress in the locality.