India’s ‘Love Commandos’ protect eloping couples

When pregnant Mehwish eloped with her husband Abdul Hakim, a 29-year-old bank clerk from Uttar Pradesh, her parents objected to their relationship because he was from a lower caste.

A council of village elders announced a 50,000 Rupee bounty ($917) for his murder and 200,000 Rupees ($3671) if both Abdul Hakim and Mehwish were killed. His father was allegedly lynched by supporters of Mehwish's family.

Last week, Hakim was killed in his village of Bulandshahr after he quietly returned, to care of his ailing, elderly mother.

Now Mehwish, 25, is living in fear for her life as well as her two-year-old daughter's, but fortunately they are under the care of India's "Love Commandos," who have vowed to do all they can to protect her.

The couple called the Delhi-based "commandos" last year, and was taken to one of its seven safe houses where it protects more than 50 couples facing death threats from their families for rejecting arranged suitors in favor of a "love marriage."

The group took the couple to India's National Commission for Women in June last year which ordered their local police and government to protect them, but no action was taken against her relatives.

Last summer the couple appeared on the popular current affairs series Satyamev Jayate, hosted by Aamir Khan, a Bollywood star known as a campaigner for liberal causes, along with dozens of other eloping couples.

Hakim's murder has raised serious questions about the reluctance and failure of police and government to protect those under threat or take action against the perpetrators, he said.

"The police were trying to find ways to not protect them," said Sanjoy Sachdev, the "Love Commandos" founder. "Officers who failed to prevent after getting information have to be booked for criminal conspiracy. The police are all out to save their own officers. The entire nation is having a hard discussion about this killing."

More than 1,000 honor killings are linked to 'love marriages' every year. Sachdev said the true figure is closer to 10,000.

Many of the killings are ordered by caste councils who have publicly demanded the right to kill those who marry against local traditions.

Sachdev established his group last year to protect eloping couples and challenge religious fundamentalist views on relationships in India after an earlier involvement in a group which defended young couples under attack from Hindu extremists for public displays of affection on St Valentine's Day.

At one 'Love Commandos' safe house last week six couples were hiding in two tiny rooftop rooms as they sought court orders to protect them from family threats.

Rahul Rastogi, a Hindu, and Noorin Akif, a Muslim, both 27, eloped in September after a secret five-year courtship at a Nokia customer care center in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. They eloped after her parents threatened to kill her and themselves if she did not marry a Muslim of their choice.

"My family have filed false charges against Rahul for kidnap, forced marriage and rape. Rahul's family are in hiding to save their lives. My brothers have threatened they will take his sister. Even his [older] married sister has been threatened by the police and Muslims. They burned Rahul's house and almost destroyed it," she said.

Sachdev said the tradition of arranged marriages was perpetuated by both Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists, but neither religion's scriptures opposed 'love marriages.'

He said Hindu Gods Lord Ram and Lord Shiva both married women from their own sub-caste, which caste elders regard as marrying a sibling and deserving of death. Lord Krishna and Radha were unmarried boyfriend and girlfriend, he added.

"Indian tradition and culture [in fact] supports love marriage. Families have no right to arrange a marriage or feel that the young person is their property. There is no honor in killing or torturing. It is the fundamentalists who create this atmosphere."

Courtesy: Daily Telegraph