Vanniyar girl married to Dalit seeks protection from PMK

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Thanjavur: A 19-year-old girl belonging to the Vanniyar community who married a Dalit youth after falling in love with him surrendered at the district police office seeking police protection as she feared threat to their lives from activists of PMK and Vannyiar Sangam.
Senthamizhselvi, in her petition to SP Dharmarajan, said she and her husband Vimalraj felt threatened.  “PMK founder Dr Ramadoss is responsible if anything untoward happens to me or my husband Vimalraj or his parents”, she said.
On the directions of SP Dhar­marajan, the couple were taken to all women police station in Kumbakonam. Since her father had lodged a complaint with Jayanko­ndam police against Vimalraj for ‘kidnapping his minor’ daughter, the inspector took the couple to the judicial   magistrate court in Jayankondam  to get their statements recorded.
Another Dalit Vanniyar couple in limelight
It cannot be dismissed as yet another Dalit-Van­niyar marriage that faces threat from casteists as two young lives are inv­olved.
The girl, Sentham­izhs­elvi (19), daughter of Selvaraj of west street in Manakkarai village, Chi­n­navalayam post, Uday­arp­alayam taluk, Ariy­alur district, and studying second-year B.Sc.
Zoology in the government arts college for women in Kumbakonam, fell in love with a 27-year-old Dalit, Vimalraj, son of Govin­dasamy of Kaliam­mankoil street, Then­ka­ch­­iperuma­lnath­am village, in Uday­arp­alayam taluk.
As her parents got wind of her affair, they strongly opposed it. The girl el­oped with Vim­alraj about a month ago. Her father Selvaraj lodged a complaint   stating that she was a minor and Vim­alraj had kidnap­ped her.
Police registered a case against Vimal­raj and his parents. The local leaders of the PMK and Van­n­iyar Sangam, who felt that the girl had brought disgrace to their community by marrying a Dalit, also started searching for the lovers.
Senthamizhselvi and Vimalraj, who were absc­onding, got married in the presence of advocate K.S. Karthikeyan and got their marriage regist­e­red at the sub-registr­a­r’s office in Thiru­pan­andal, near Kumb­ak­onam, on June 25. Later, they settled down in Thiru­pa­na­ndal area and started living as husband and wife.
“As they feared threat to their lives, we filed a wr­it petition before the Madras HC seeking po­lice protection. Dispo­si­ng of the petition, the HC directed the police not to harass the couple but to pro­vide protection,” said advocate Karthikeyan. Sent­ham­izhs­el­vi claimed that she and Vimalraj had been in love for over three years.
“My mother is no more. My father and stepmother deci­ded to get me married to an old man to clear a debt owed by my father to that man,” Sentham­izhs­elvi.