Young couple struggles to save inter-faith marriage

On the run since they fell in love two years ago, this dreamy-eyed, young couple's seemingly dramatic story has two unusual villains - their own kin and, ironically, the local police. Jatin Anand reports.

On the run since they fell in love two years ago, this dreamy-eyed, young couple's seemingly dramatic story has two unusual villains - their own kin and, ironically, the local police.

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Manish, 21, whose father is a small-time clerk at a government office and Sameera, who hails from a well-to-do Muslim household, had eloped from their south Delhi homes in early April this year and have been running from pillar to post to save their marriage ever since.

"We got married at a city court on April 2 and started getting telephonic threats, mostly from my parents and sometimes from my husband's family's side, the same evening," said Sameera, 19, a B.Com (Hons) student at Delhi University's Shaheed Bhagat Singh College.

"I finally decided to approach the local police with a complaint two weeks later, when things got so out of hand that Sameera and I couldn't even travel together. Soon, they started appearing at my workplace and creating a ruckus almost daily," said Manish.

Seeking police assistance, however, did little as they were allegedly turned away with a simple assurance that their complaint 'had been received'. The number of calls multiplied and the intensity of the threats they issued started bordering on nothing less than death.

Days later, Manish was allegedly assaulted by a few member of Sameera's family while dropping her off at college for an exam in late April. Her family's animosity towards her husband now left Sameera with little to do except being absent from college for one exam after another - and, finally, dropping an entire academic year out of the fear of her own family.

"I was forced to drop one job after another because the public humiliation I was subjected to was enough for my employers to cut me off," Manish said.

"And whenever I told the local police about the harassment I was facing, I was told that they couldn't 'lawfully' intervene till a crime was actually committed against me or my wife," Manish claimed, adding that the police could have registered a criminal case.

Chhaya Sharma, DCP (south) said she had received the couple's complaint and would look into the matter.