Inter-caste couple seeks protection from kin

VILLUPURAM: Three days after a communal conflict in Anathur village over an inter-caste marriage, the couple appeared before the police on Saturday.

According to village sources, the couple – caste Hindu woman and Dalit man – ran away from the village on February 21 and the woman’s family lodged an abduction complaint against the man’s family and residents of his colony. As the couple had gone missing for five days, about 300 caste Hindu men allegedly ravaged the Dalit colony on Wednesday.

The couple appeared  before Superintendent of Police S Jeyakumar here on Saturday. The woman gave in writing that she had not been abducted and went along with her husband willingly.“My husband and I have been in love for the last few years. But we come from different caste groups and so we thought our parents will separate us. So we got married in Cuddalore on January 7,” said the woman. She added that they had been living in their houses following the marriage. “But my parents fixed my marriage with another person and so I planned to go to Chennai with my husband.”

However, when the woman came to know about the abduction case, the couple decided to surrender. “Though we have surrendered, we are afraid that my parents and relatives would harm us. So, I request the police to provide security and protect us from them, and let us live in peace,” she said.Talking to Express, SP Jeyakumar said the couple was produced before court and was later sent to Chennai with police escort until the district border.