Coimbatore: Bride’s kin held for threatening to kill intercaste couple

A video is circulating of the young couple Vigneshwar (23) and Sneha (20) screaming for help from inside a white car when it stops at a traffic light in Coimbatore’s busy Race Course area.

Chennai: An FIR has been lodged in the case of an inter caste couple who have alleged that the woman’s family threatened to kill them and Coimbatore police have arrested the woman’s father and three of their relatives. They are out on bail now.

Sneha has filed the complaint against her father and her relatives. (Representational photo)

A video is circulating of the young couple Vigneshwar (23) and Sneha (20) screaming for help from inside a white car when it stops at a traffic light in Coimbatore’s busy Race Course area. The incident is from March 2. The couple then flees from the car, panic stricken. They tell bystanders that they are legally married, they have documents but they are being threatened by Sneha’s family. “They have knives inside (the car),” says a petrified Vigneshwar. The couple then falls on the feet of bystanders on the road and seek their help who in turn informed the police.

But no weapons have been recovered in the case which the police registered on March 3. Sneha has filed the complaint against her father and her relatives. The Coimbatore police said that the couple have been in love four four years and got married on March 1. With the help of a political organisation Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK), the couple got married at the Saravanampatti police station. In the video, the couple can be seen telling bystanders that they got a written statement from the police that nothing can be done to them since they are majors who are consensually and legally married. The Saravanampatti police station is now investigating the case.

“Through these four years the woman’s family has had a problem with their relationship because they say Vigeshwar doesn’t have a job so they didn’t want their daughter to struggle,” said a police officer in the case. “The family has completely dismissed that this is due to caste animosity.” Sneha belongs to the Scheduled Castes category while Vigneshwar belongs to the backward yet powerful Gounder caste. “After their marriage, the woman’s family called them for the first time saying that they will take them to a temple. And issues erupted between them. It’s not a case of kidnap,” said a police officer investigating the case.

A case has been registered against the bride’s family under sections 294b (obscene, abusive words in public places), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 b (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).