New Delhi:
They used to be known as village elders before they started enforcing their writ upon young couples, killing those who did not comply. But there is hope for those who still want to pursue their relationships transgressing social boundaries.
A Delhi-based activist has come up with a novel idea of raising about 2,000 men and women against the killer panchayats, to be known as Love Commandos. The new force will help lovers to culminate their relationships into marriage.
The service, which will be formally launched on Wednesday, will also constitute a 24-hour helpline number, 9313784375. Couples can call up the number to seek help about marriage, laws, security and other issues. They can also seek counseling from the in-house experts.
Harsh Malhotra, the brain behind the concept, said that it was high time that society should react to the indiscriminate killings at the behest of Khap panchayats in northern India.
Malhotra explained that they would also try to get assistance from the police for couples who feel threatened.
"We have carefully planned each and everything. The moment we receive a call, we will direct the caller's number to the local team located in that area. Immediately, intervention of the police will be sought and proper protection will be given. The second step would be to take the couple to the court," Malhotra said.
Apart from volunteers, Malhotra's team will consist of senior lawyers and priests.
The lawyers' team will be headed by Pradeep Chaudhary, a senior advocate of Supreme Court. Love Commando will have volunteers across the country except North Eastern states.
"Mostly people are open in those states and rarely do we come across any such cases. We will be providing help to the couples even at tehseel level. While lawyers will be coordinating the legal and counseling part, the priests would arrange marriages," said Malhotra, who got married six times to his wife since 1994 in different regional styles.
He was about to get married for the seventh time but then the Mumbai attack took place, and it got cancelled.
"We will ensure that proper lawyers are assigned to couples calling on our helpline numbers. If we come across cases involving minors, we will guide them accordingly. However, in other cases we would ask documents for age proof before providing assistance. In case we come across cases where couples are facing threat to life, priority would be sending the couple to some safe place," said Chaudhary.
The group will also train the couples, faced with dire consequences, in techniques to protect themselves. When asked if there will be any dress code for members of Love Commando, Malhotra said, "There is no dress code for love."