“The family members had made their own efforts to trace the girl for nearly a week before registering the complaint. By tracing the location of the latest call made from the girl’s mobile number, we nabbed the accused and rescued her,” said Moradabad Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Bhadauria.

He said the police charged the accused with rape and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Bajrang Dal district unit chief Rohan Saxena, who led the group that thronged the police station, said, “The accused took a cue from the recently released movie, The Kerala Story. He first asked his younger sister to forge a friendship with the girl and then abducted her. He was also putting her under pressure to marry him after embracing Islam. Such incidents have risen manifold in recent times. We request the Centre to bring in a tough law to deal with such ‘love jihad’ cases.”