New Delhi: Sanchi (name changed) was placed under ‘house arrest’ for nearly seven years by her parents because she had a Muslim boyfriend, who was her classmate.
According to The Hindu report, the 32 year-old, a qualified homeopath held hostage since August 14, 2009 when her parents came to know about her relationship. Since then she was put under lock and key with no access to the Internet or telephones.
Sanchi called 181 — the helpline number for women in distress after that Delhi Commission For Women (DCW) rescued her from her house.
“I am 32 and ashamed that I allowed my family to take away seven years of my youth,” she told The Hindu.
Her father would thrash her, mother threatened to commit suicide, if she make any effort to escape, she was threaten to kill for bringing dishonour to the family.
She was constantly shown news articles on ‘love jihad’ and claim that her boyfriend “was plotting” against her.
“Almost every day my parents showed me some news or the other, on love jihad,” she said,
“They would tell me that he [her boyfriend] is plotting against you. I had nothing to do. So I picked up cooking as a hobby,” she said.
One day, when her mother had gone to take a shower, she saw a chance for escape and quickly made a distress call to 181 women’s emergency number from her mother’s phone.
“I called 181 from my mother’s number when she had gone to take a shower. I had exactly 10 minutes to explain my case,” she said.
The first words she uttered were: “Please Rescue Me,” said Promilla Gupta, a DCW member who oversees the helpline.
Sanchi told that she spoke to her boyfriend seven years ago and said she wouldn’t hold it against her boyfriend if he had moved on.
“Seven years is a very long time. I won’t blame him if he has moved on as there was no way of contacting me,” she said.
Currently staying at the DCW’s shelter, she has not taken any legal action against her parents.