Protect girl from kin: Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has directed the Talegaon MIDC police station of Pune to ensure the safety of a 19-year-old girl, Priyanka Shete, who alleged that her life is under threat from her parents because she is in a relationship with a youth who is from a lower caste. The court also directed the police to consider her complaint.

A vacation bench of Justices M.S. Karnik and R.I. Chagla was hearing a petition filed by Ms Shete through her counsel Nitin Satpute. According to the petition, Ms Shete, a second-year LLB student, belongs to the Maratha community and had attained majority on August 29, 2018. During her studies, she came to fall in love with a youth, Viraj Aghwade,whom she decided to marry after the latter attained majority.

The petition states that  Mr Aghwade was from a “poor family” and Ms Shete’s parents are against inter-caste marriage and did not like that their daughter was in love with a lower-caste boy and, therefore, they started hating him.

The plea further states that her parents threatened to kill the couple should the daughter dare to meet him. Ms Shete also alleged that her parents also started torturing her so badly that she had decided to end her life. Therefore, on February 26 she consumed a large quantity of medicine with the aim the commit suicide.

The teenager was admitted to the Pavna Hospital at Pune where, after receiving necessary treatment, the hospital’s doctors referred the matter to the Talegaon police station as a medico-legal case. The police, however, did not take any action, it was alleged.

In March this year, Shete’s paternal uncle had also threatened her by pointing a country-made pistol at her, Mr Satpute alleged.

While Mr Satpute urged the court to direct the police to ensure Mr Shete’s safety, the state government told the bench that Ms Shete must be directed to make a specific complaint at the police station concerned.

At this, the Bombay high court bench directed a Talegaon MIDC police station officer, who was present at the high court, to look into the allegations and ensure her safety.

Father held for honour killing

The Parner police in Ahmednagar has arrested a man for allegedly setting ablaze his daughter with the help of her maternal and paternal uncle for marrying a lower-caste boy.

Additional SP Sagar Patil told The Asian Age that Rama Bharatiya, the father of deceased, was arrested on Tuesday. He also said the paternal and maternal uncles of the deceased, Surendra Kumar and Ghanshyam Saroj, were already arrested on Saturday and they have been remanded in police custody till May 10.

On Saturday, Mangesh Chandrakant Ranasingh (23) and his wife Rukmini Rama Bharatiya (23) were set ablaze allegedly by her father and relatives in Ahmednagar district as they were opposed to the couple’s marriage, police said Monday. While the woman died of burn injuries at a Pune hospital on Sunday, the man is battling for life with over 40 per cent burns, an official said.

Terming it an honour killing, inspector Vijaykumar Botre of Parner tehsil here said Ranasingh and Bharatiya were set ablaze as they married despite being from different castes. The incident happened on May 1 in Nighoj village, 60 kilometres from the district headquarters, he added.

“Ranasingh, a construction worker and Bharatiya got married in November last year against the wishes of her parents. On April 28, she came to Nighoj village to meet her parents. On May 1, Ranasingh came to take her to their marital home,” Mr Botre said.

However, the woman’s father and uncles locked the couple in a room and set them ablaze, the official said.