Cops take woman to husband in Kerala, parents cry foul

AGRA - An Agra woman, who was allegedly being confined by her parents here, is being taken back by police to her husband’s home in Kerala on court orders. But her parents as well as her own statement to police here say she was forced into the marriage.

Kerala Police took the 21-year-old woman into custody Sunday evening on the order of the state high court. Her husband Vipin Kumar, 28, a native of Alappuzha, had filed a case against his in-laws for allegedly not allowing his wife to leave.

The woman was an undergraduate student at St. John’s College before she left Agra with Vipin in May. Vipin claims she came to her parental home on a holiday two months ago after her court marriage in Kerala.

However, the woman’s parents told police that Vipin, who was a tenant in their house in Patel Nagar here a year ago, had “brainwashed” their daughter and eloped with her to Kerala.

Police said the woman would be presented before a Kerala court where her statement would be recorded.

Agra’s Hari Parbat police station records say the parents of the girl had filed a report in May alleging kidnapping and her mysterious disappearance.

When the girl returned about two months ago, she in her statement to police said that Vipin and his mother had drugged her and taken her to Kerala. They threatened to kill her brother, she said according to the police statement. She also told police she was forced to marry Vipin.

On the basis of this statement, Agra police were in the process of arresting Vipin and his mother, but the latter moved an application in the Kerala High Court which directed police to bring her in the court.

Hari Parbat police station inspector Awadhesh Mishra said a police team from Kerala had come with an order of the high court. Police are investigating the case against Vipin and his mother.