Muslim woman jailed for wrongly accusing Hindu of rape

London, May 9 (IANS) A 21-year-old Asian Muslim woman in Britain has been sentenced to jail for four years after she pretended she was raped by her Hindu boyfriend and arranged for his kidnapping and torture by a gang.

The accused Sonia Begum told her cousin Shahen Ahmed that the 22-year-old Hindu man had sexually assaulted her. Ahmed rounded up a gang who kidnapped the boyfriend, the Daily Mail reported.

Begum thought her Hindu boyfriend would show explicit photos of her to her devout parents.

The gang also set fire to the victim's face, beat him with a belt and kicked him in the stomach, the Old Bailey court heard.

Begum claimed the man was pestering her, and feared that her strict Muslim parents would disapprove of any contact between them, because he was Hindu.

Begum lured him to meet her at a place in London. She spoke to him on one mobile phone while maintaining an open line to her 20-year-old brother, Mohammed Hussain.

Ahmed, Hussain and two other men - Mafijur Rahman, 45, and Kasim Uddin, 35 - kidnapped the Hindu man.

The kidnappers made "terrifying" phone calls demanding money from the victim's family, the court heard.

Ahmed was told he must serve at least eight-and-a-half years before he can apply for parole. He admitted kidnap, false imprisonment, blackmail and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Hussain was jailed for 14 years, Uddin received 11-and-a-half years and Rahman was sentenced to six-and-a-half years for their roles.

Noor Miah, a 49-year-old, whose flat in east London was used for the crime, received two years for false imprisonment.

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