Interfaith couple seeks police protection after family threatens to kill them

An interfaith couple has sought protection from Gurugram police after the woman’s family allegedly threatened to kill them both, police said on Thursday

An interfaith couple has sought protection from Gurugram police after the woman’s family allegedly threatened to kill them both, police said on Thursday.

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The Muslim woman, aged around 20 years, left her house of her own free will on July 8 and started living with her Hindu partner, police said.

After the woman sent a postal complaint to deputy commissioner of police (west) on July 11, the police on Thursday lodged an FIR against her father, elder brother, two uncles and grandfather under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Sector 5 police station.

In her complaint, she also said she started living with her Hindu partner out of wedlock as the anti-conversion laws of Haryana prevented them from getting married.

Police said after the woman left home, her family members submitted a missing person complaint at Palam Vihar police station, claiming that she had gone “missing”.

Acting on that complaint, the couple was told to reach the Palam Vihar police station on Wednesday. Police said when the couple reached the station, the woman’s two brothers and two maternal uncles viciously assaulted them and threatened to kill them if they did not agree to separate.

The couple was later produced before the court and after the woman told the court that she was an adult and wanted to live with her Hindu partner, she was allowed to go with him, police said.

Rajiv Kumar, assistant commissioner of police (Udyog Vihar), said that after the assault incident, he issued orders to give the couple police protection.

“They were escorted to their desired destination by police. However, after reaching there, they were hesitant to live under security cover and so the police team returned,” he said.