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| India-Pakistan |
| Young J&K couple attacked in Delhi |
| 2009-03-28 |
| A young couple belonging to different communities who ran away from their homes in Jammu and Kashmir and got married in the capital under the protection of a voluntary women's organisation were attacked in South Delhi on Thursday by the relatives of the girl who were allegedly accompanied by a Jammu and Kashmir police team. The organisation's chairperson was also assaulted. The girl is a first year graduation student and the boy is a post-graduation student. Fearing persecution at the hands of their parents, the couple fled to the capital and approached the organisation, which later provided them shelter. The two tied the knot on Wednesday. "Around 11 a.m. today [on Thursday], the girl's relatives came along with a Jammu and Kashmir police team and attacked her. She sustained bruises. They also assaulted the organisation's chairperson and she was also injured," said Mary E. John, Director of the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS). The organisation then sought help from the Delhi police, which have agreed to provide adequate security to the couple. The girl's relatives alleged that she was abducted and that she was a minor. In a joint statement, the National Federation of Indian Women, the All-India Democratic Women's Association, the Joint Women's Programme, CWDS and the Young Women's Christian Association, besides Leila Seth, Uma Chakravarthy and Githa Hariharan, condemned the persecution of young adults for choosing their own marriage partners and demanded that the State safeguard their rights. Sudha Sundararaman of AIDWA said the organisations were shocked to learn that two consenting adults from different communities, above the legal age of marriage, were forced to leave their homes to take refuge in Delhi, fearing for their lives. Through the joint statement, they demanded that all protection be provided to the couple under the laws of the land and that a statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stating voluntary consent also be recorded before a magistrate in Delhi, as they got married here. |
| Posted by:Fred |