New Delhi: A 30-year-old man hailing from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh crossed over illegally into Pakistan to marry a Facebook friend but instead ended up in jail.

Badal Babu from Aligarh was arrested last week in the Mandi Bahauddin district of Pakistan’s Punjab province (some 240 km from Lahore) for illegal border crossing.

Woman Rejects Marriage Proposal

The woman, Sana Rani (21) told the local police she did not want to tie the knot.

Police have recorded the statement of Babu’s Facebook friend and said 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,” a Pakistan Punjab police officer, Nasir Shah, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI on Thursday.

According to local police, Babu illegally crossed the border and reached Sana Rani’s Maung village in Mandi Bahauddin, where he was arrested by law enforcers.

Babu Detained Under Pakistan’s Foreign Act 

Babu was detained under Pakistan’s Foreign Act sections 13 and 14 as he was travelling without any legal documents and is in judicial custody for 14 days.

Not The First Time 

This isn’t the first time someone from India has crossed into Pakistan to meet a love interest made through social media.

Previously, an Indian woman named Anju traveled to Pakistan to meet her partner, converted to Islam, and married him. Her new husband, Nasrullah, is from Pakistan.

Last year, Seema Haider, a woman from Pakistan, connected with an Indian man through the PUBG game. She crossed into India via Nepal with her four children and eventually married him.

Similarly, in 2023, 19-year-old Pakistani Iqra Jiwani formed a bond with 25-year-old Indian Mulayam Singh Yadav through an online game. The two later married in Nepal.

 

(With inputs from PTI)