NEW DELHI: A 21-year-old has written to the Ranga reddy district court alleging that she was being branded as mentally unstable for wanting to marry outside her caste.
“If I don’t change my mind, a repeat of Pranay-Amrutha kind of murder I may witness,” the 21-year-old wrote to the court.
The woman belongs to a goldsmith community and has been in a relationship for over six years with a man from the Goud community whom she wants to marry.
Both have sought police protection as they fear a threat to their life from the girl’s parents.
The woman stays at the Sakhi Centre, a city-based rehabilitation home and filed a case (No. 279) before the Ranga Reddy District Legal service Authority, appealing for protection and rehabilitation.
She said: “My father learnt of our relationship but never accepted it. I was beaten several times and determined in a room. Once he hit me on my head and I had to be given 12 stitches. I was given sleeping pills when I asked for medication for body aches, and dragged to a psychiatrist stating I am mentally sick. My father forced to attend counselling and asked me to forget the boy.
False cases were filed on her lover, who was forced to discontinue his intermediate and shift to Kothapet. My father even threatened the boy’s family, she added.
The woman said she could leave home earlier because she was a minor. After she turned an adult, she hoped parents would come to terms with her relationship, but that did not happen. On October 20, unable to withstand torture at home, Sravani approached the police and sought protection.
“She insisted on rehabilitation and refused to return home fearing a threat to her life. She was shifted to the Sakhi centre after counselling,” said a police officer of Vanasthalipuram. No case has been booked against the parents.
She and her parents were called for counselling by the Legal Services Authority on Saturday.
“I am an adult and want to live my life independently, I don’t wish to stay with my father as I fear a life threat. We seek protection and squashing of criminal cases filed the boy,” she told the counsellor.
The father reportedly threatened the girl inside the court premises also.