A B.Tech first-year student from Alwal was ‘forcibly’ married off to her distant relative by a group of people at Oxygen Park in Kandlakoya in Medchal on Valentine’s Day to mark their protest against the celebrations, police said.
The woman, who visited the park with one of her distant relatives, was allegedly forced to tie the knot by a group of six people. They filmed the entire act. Further, they posted the recorded video on social media, which went viral on the internet.
‘Show-off’ act
Balanagar Deputy Commissioner of Police P.V. Padmaja said the group, which was later arrested by the Medchal police, was not associated with Bajrang Dal or any other right-wing outfit. “The incident was clearly a ‘show-off’ act by a few locals, who were arrested following a complaint by the student’s father,” she said. The woman’s father after seeing the forwarded video on his mobile approached the police and lodged a complaint. “Initially he went to the college and found that she had not turned up and later went to the park in search of his daughter, but in vain,” Medchal inspector Gangadhar said . He said between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. the group found the duo, moving closely, restrained them and behaved indecently with the girl and forced them to get married. “The group assumed them as lovers, and forced them to get married by providing nuptial thread and took the video,” he said. Based on the complaint of the woman’s father, a case was registered against six people. They were identified as M Srihari Chary, K Anand, K Avinash, P Ashok, B Suresh Kumar and T Chandrashekar of Medchal.
Over 70 workers of Bajrang Dal were taken into preventive custody by police when they tried to take out rallies without permission, police said.
