PUDUKKOTTAI: A Dalit youth from the district has knocked on the doors of the All Women Police Station (AWPS) in Alangudi to rescue his caste Hindu wife, who he alleged has been illegally confined by her family.
While the police have helped R Siva (24), a native of Perungalur village in the district, stop a forced second marriage of his wife, Keerthika (20), they are yet to unite the couple. Siva, son of Rasu, had been working as an electrician in Pudukkottai town when he fell in love with Keerthika, a native of Vadimanaipatti near Alangudi, four years ago. The caste Hindu girl was pursuing a nursing course in a paramedical institute in Pudukkottai at the time. The couple registered the marriage at the Viralimalai sub-registrar’s office on March 4, 2013. Keerthika then went to Coimbatore to work as a nurse at a private hospital.
According to Siva, his wife’s family, including her mother Pushpam and siblings Krishnakumar and Krishnaveni, went to Coimbatore on August 30 this year and brought Keerthika to their house forcibly with an intention to marry her off to her maternal uncle on September 12. “I came to know of this only on September 10, following which, I approached the Alangdi AWPS, and produced all documents as proof of our marriage. Later, police personnel went to Keerthika’s house and advised them not to go ahead with the marriage as the girl was already married. Since then, said Siva, the police have neither made an effort to rescue his wife nor conducted further inquiries. “I suspect they are trying to brainwash her in an attempt to separate us,” Siva said. He added that his wife’s brother, Krishnakumar, told him that either the couple would be separated or Keerthika would not live. “I fear for my wife’s life. Before they do anything to her,” Siva appealed.
An officer of the AWPS, said the inspector has gone for training in Tiruchy and any action can be taken only when she returns.