The police have said they were determined to ensure the safety of a newly married couple, even as some villagers approached the police for the girl's custody.
“The girl has said in a Delhi court that she is willingly living with the man she claimed she married”, DCP NIT Praveen Mehta said. “We will not be cowed down by the Panchayat threats to the couple. Rather, it becomes our duty to protect the couple.” He said some villagers of Pali met Commissioner of Police, Faridabad P.K. Agarwal, demanding custody of the girl.
“The girl is not with the police. She is living with the person she said she married,” Mehta said. “How can the villagers expect us to hand them over the girl?”
The Panchayat had warned the couple to present themselves before the Panchayat a few days ago. The couple, however, did not turn up. The boy’s family, too, had been threatened with social boycott.