An inter-faith couple was stopped from getting married by workers of the right-wing group Bajrang Dal on September 14.
The couple – Chaitra, a Dalit woman and Jaffar, a Muslim man – had come to the Chikmagalur registrar’s office to get married. However, they were stopped by the Hindutva group members.
Soon the situation turned tense and the police had to interfere. While Chaitra was taken to a rehabilitation centre called Swadhara, Jaffar was taken to the police station where he was allegedly assaulted and later sent home.
The girl’s mother, who was reportedly in support of the marriage, pleaded with the police officials to let her speak to her daughter for some time. But the police did not listen to her pleas.
Later, based on Jaffar’s complaint the Chikmagalur rural police registered an FIR against four Bajrang Dal members who were arrested the next day.
On Saturday, Chaitra spoke to the media. Visibly angry, she said, “We are marrying because we like each other. Who are they to stop us? We did not do anything illegal to get married. We do not want their protection, that’s all.”
She further went on to say, “They abused me and attacked him and beat him. They questioned him, do you want to marry only a Hindu girl? Do you want to marry an SC girl? Is it that SC girls cannot marry? It is our wish. We will marry and earn and live. What authority do they have to question that? I have filed a complaint and I kept asking where is Jafar.”
She described the whole incident as an injustice and hoped that it is not repeated with any other couple.
The boy and girl, both residents of Lakshmipura in Chikkamagaluru taluk had been in love for about two years.
In similar news in Tumkur district, Karnataka, a Dalit widow staged a sit-in protest in front of her upper-caste in-laws who refused her entry into their home.
The family alleged that their son, Jitendra, was killed by their daughter-in-law, Majula. However, Jitendra passed away after contracting jaundice.
The woman Manjula is protesting with her child in Vidyanagar.
