Madurai: A Dalit man from Karuvanur village gave a petition to the Madurai district Collector on Tuesday evening alleging that his wife, a caste Hindu, was kidnapped by her family on Monday night as they did not approve of the marriage.
Police said they registered a case against the girl's family and some of them were being questioned although the whereabouts of the woman was yet unknown.
In his petition, I Ilamvallal Rajakumaran, said he fell in love with V Sasikala from Kodanginayakanpatti near Elumalai when both were studying in a teacher training institute in Madurai district.
As Sasikala's family refused to approve the marriage, the couple, both adults, got married as per the 'self respect' tradition on August 21, 2015 in the presence of an advocate. Even after the marriage, the girl's family came to their house in Karuvanur more than once to threaten them and to separate Sasikala from Ilavallal.
The couple later filed a petition with the Madurai district Superintendent of Police Vijayendra Bidari who provided a personal security officer (PSO) to the couple. However, after some weeks, the couple gave in writing that they did not want a PSO anymore as they believed that the issue had been sorted out.
A PSO was nevertheless posted for the couple's security for some weeks after which the security was removed, police sources said.
On Monday night, when Ilavallal was not home, Sasikala's brother Veeranan and around eight others allegedly came to his house with weapons. He has claimed that they attacked Ilavallal's mother and forcefully took away Sasikala after gagging her.
A case was registered at the M Chatrapatti police station on Monday night and police sources said many of her family members were being questioned. However, police are yet to trace the girl as the family was allegedly not cooperating with the probe.