A retired police constable allegedly attempted to abduct his pregnant 20-year-old daughter from her marital home in Tiruvallur district on Friday, 31 January. This, after she reportedly refused to leave her husband in the face of her father’s objection to her marrying out of her caste.
Deepika (20) married Saikumar, an AC mechanic, six months ago. While she belongs to the Yadavar community, Saikumar belongs to the Balija Naidu community (Backward class). Her father, Balakumar, had objected to their relationship and later their marriage as well. But Deepika left her house to marry Saikumar and moved with him to Bengaluru. After she became pregnant, Saikumar reportedly brought her to his parents’ home in Tiruvallur district.
On 31 January, her father came to know her whereabouts and went to Saikumar’s residence with four of his friends.
“He tried to convince Deepika to leave once again. He claimed that her husband was not right for her because of the difference in their communities, and that she should divorce him,” a senior police official told TNM.
“When she refused, he pulled out a handkerchief laced with some chemical and placed it on her face. It was not any acid or anything. It caused mild discoloration on her face,” he added.
Deepika’s mother-in-law Bagyalakshmi and sister-in-law Divya tried to stop him but couldn’t. Balakumar then took her forcefully to his friend’s house in Sriperumbudur. And while this incident happened at 10.45 am, Deepika was brought back to her husband’s home at 8 pm by her father and his friends.
Saikumar’s family, however, had not given any police complaint till then. When Deepika was brought back home, they took her to a local hospital.
“We got a call from the hospital about what happened,” an investigating official said. “After we got to know about the incident, we conducted enquiries and filed an FIR,” he added.
Balakumar and his friends have been booked for harassing a woman and the police is currently on the lookout for them.
“He has been against his daughter’s marriage from the very beginning because the husband is from a different community,” said the official adding, “We will trace him soon.”
(This story has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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