Ms Misra had claimed her husband and she feared reprisals from her father for marrying outside her caste
Highlights
- Ajitesh Kumar married Sakshi Misra, the daughter of a BJP lawmaker
- The couple alleged they received threats from the lawmaker
- Following the assault, the court ordered the police to protect the couple
The husband of Sakshi Misra, an Uttar Pradesh BJP lawmaker's daughter who had alleged threats from her family, was attacked today at the Allahabad High Court, where the couple had gone to seek protection. Ajitesh Kumar, 29, was slapped and manhandled by a group of lawyers inside the court premises. The couple had earlier alleged a threat to their lives from Sakshi Misra's father.
The couple, who arrived at court under police protection, attended a brief hearing in which Justice Siddhartha Varma upheld their right, as adults, to choose their own life-partners, and directed police to provide protection and ensure that Ms Misra's father did not interfere in their personal lives.
The attack occurred as the couple were leaving the courtroom and, on re-entering and informing the court of the incident, Justice Varma summoned SP (Prayagraj), directing him to make foolproof arrangements to take the couple to wherever they wanted to go.
Sakshi Misra, 23, is the daughter of Rajesh Misra, a legislator from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. She married Ajitesh Kumar at a temple on July 4. She then posted a video on social media asking for protection from the court because she felt her husband and she were in danger from her father for marrying outside her caste.
In the video, which went viral, Sakshi Misra referred to her father and brother and wrote: "Papa and Vicky, I mean Honourable MLA Pappu Bhartaul ji and Vicky Bhartaul ji, please live and let us live in peace...Papa, you have sent your goons after me...like Rajiv Rana... I am tired... We are tired of running around and our life is in danger. Vicky and Papa, stop troubling Abhi and his relatives. You live in peace, do politics. I want to be happy and free." she says in the video.
"Through this video, I want to say that if in future anything happens to me, Abhi or his family, my father, Vicky Bhartaul and Rajiv Rana will be responsible for it... Those who are helping my father, stop helping him because our lives are in danger. Please Papa, change your mindset. Abhi and his family are good people, they are not animals."
The BJP lawmaker has denied his daughter's charge and said his objection to the marriage was not because of caste but because of their age difference and Ajitesh's modest income.