Week After Interfaith Couple Beaten in Court, Hindu Girl Unreachable, No Arrests
Vaishnavi and Syed fell in love around a year ago, Syed says. Earlier this year, they decided to get married so that they could be together. Though Vaishnavi is a few years younger than Syed, both are adults.
“Vaishnavi told me that we should do a court marriage. So I told her to speak to her family first. She spoke to her brother, who himself had done a court marriage. Her brother gave her the contact number of his lawyer,” Syed told The Quint.
Vaishnavi then spoke to the lawyer, a person named Akshay Karan, who promised her that he would arrange for their court marriage. According to Syed, the lawyer asked for an advance of Rs 5000, which he duly transferred.
Vaishnavi and Syed travelled nearly four hours by bus to Bhopal to register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act on 7 February. Little did they know that they were walking into a trap.
“After we reached the court, the lawyer took our documents, got them signed, and took another ₹35,000 from me. Then he said, ‘I am going inside the courtroom to get the paperwork completed’. Suddenly, the media came from behind, a mob of vigilantes also came and attacked us,” Syed recalls.
“None of them asked me anything; they directly started beating me. Then, at the police post inside the court, they made me do sit-ups as a form of punishment. They took my phone and my money”.
Vaishnavi tried to save Syed from the mob but they hit her as well.
A video of the Hindutva mob beating up Syed in the court canteen and bullying him is circulating in the media and social media.
The mob stopped beating Syed only when the police intervened and took them away.
Mediapersons surrounded the police vehicle in which Vaishnavi was being taken away. Even when she was being prompted by a journalist that Syed had forced her to get married, Vaishnavi said that she came by her own will and that she knows him since three years.
The couple waited at the police station till 10 PM and the police sent Vaishnavi back with her family and Syed with his brother.
The night of 7 February at the police station was the last time Syed saw Vaishnavi or heard from her. Since then, he says, she hasn’t stepped out of home nor has her phone been reachable.
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