In a video, Sakshi Misra tells her father, a BJP leader, that she faces threat to her life
Highlights
- Sakshi Misra, 23, claims her life is in danger
- She requests police to "give us security and protect us"
- Sakshi Misra is daughter of Rajesh Misra, BJP legislator from Bareilly
The daughter of a BJP lawmaker in Uttar Pradesh has posted a video on social media claiming she is in danger from her father for marrying a man outside her caste. She asks for protection against her family from the police, who have been spurred into action by the outrage over the video.
Sakshi Misra, 23, is the daughter of Rajesh Misra, a legislator from Bareilly. She and her husband, who is from a scheduled caste, have asked the Allahabad High Court for police protection.
In her video, she refers to her father and brother using their nicknames "Pappu Bhartaul" and "Vicky Bhartaul".
"Papa and Vicky, I mean Honourable MLA Pappu Bhartaul ji and Vicky Bhartaul ji, please live and let us live in peace... I really am married, I am not wearing sindoor for fashion," she says, as a man appearing to be her husband holds up the mobile phone, recording her.
Sakshi Misra married Ajitesh Kumar, a 29-year-old businessman, last Thursday at a temple in Prayagraj. They met a few months ago through Sakshi's brother, who is Ajitesh's friend.
It is not known where they are currently. Ajitesh's family home is locked.
"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."
In another video, she requests the police to "give us security and protect us".
Her father-in-law Harish Kumar has confirmed that "his (the legislator's) men sent them a message that they will be killed".
The BJP lawmaker denied his daughter's charge and said there was "a political conspiracy" against him. "My daughter is an adult; she can take her own decisions. I have not threatened to kill anyone. Neither my family members nor people who work with me have threatened to kill anyone. My family and I are busy with our work, our BJP membership drive" said the lawmaker.
He also claimed he had objected to his daughter's marriage not because of caste but because of the age difference and her husband's low income.
Sources say it took the intervention of very senior BJP leaders for the lawmaker to issue a statement to the media. He has four criminal cases against him, including two charges related to criminal intimidation.
The police say they will provide security to the couple as soon as they are found.
"We found out through social media. We will 100 per cent provide security (to the couple), but we don't know where they are ... We have deployed security outside the man's home," said senior police officer Muniraj G.