A 30-year-old Indian man illegally crossed into Pakistan to meet a Facebook friend he wished to marry, only to end up in jail. The woman, however, told the police she had no intention of marrying him, PTI reported.
Badal Babu, from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested last week in Mandi Bahauddin, located in Pakistan’s Punjab province, about 240 kilometers from Lahore, for crossing the border illegally.
Babu’s aim was to meet his Facebook friend, Sana Rani, whom he had hoped to marry. However, according to a police officer, Sana, 21, stated she had no interest in marriage.
“Sana Rani told the police that she and Babu had been friends on Facebook for two-and-a-half years but she was not interested in marrying him,” Punjab police officer Nasir Shah said on Thursday.
Babu illegally crossed the border to reach Sana Rani’s village in Mandi Bahauddin, where he was arrested. It remains unclear if Babu met Rani during his visit.
He was charged under Pakistan’s Foreign Act sections 13 and 14 for travelling without legal documentation. He was later presented in court and placed in judicial custody for 14 days, with the next hearing scheduled for January 10.
This incident is not the first of its kind. Previously, an Indian woman named Anju travelled to Pakistan to meet her online lover, converting to Islam and marrying Pakistani man Nasrullah. Last year, Seema Haider, a woman from Pakistan, entered India via Nepal with her four children after forming a bond through the PUBG game, eventually marrying an Indian man.
