A 25-year-old engineer is running for his life, trying to escape from being killed by his own parents, who are reportedly bent upon saving their ‘family honour.’



Anmol Gautam, hailing from Barielly in Uttar Pradesh and settled in Bangalore, has been trying to get help from Bangalore police as his parents have sworn to kill him.



His fault - he has fallen in love with a girl from a different caste.



Anmol’s journey has progressively descended into hell, since July this year, when he told his parents during his graduation ceremony from International Institute of Information Technology, that he was all set to marry Sonam. His parents responded by allegedly beating him up and telling him to forget the girl.



Mother hale and hearty



In October, Anmol rushed to Barielly when he was informed that his mother was on her deathbed. Arriving there, he found his mother hale and hearty and realised that it was a ploy to get him back, as his parents had realised that he had not broken up with Sonam.



Before he knew it, all his belongings were taken away and he was beaten black and blue. “My family members had also hired people to beat me up. I was punched and kicked and later tied up and hung upside down. I fell unconscious after that,” Anmol says.



He was told repeatedly by his parents that the family honour mattered more than anything and they would even kill him to protect it.



When his cousin tried to intervene, he too was threatened by Anmol’s family. He was confined for a month and poor treatment was meted out to him.



He was also taken to a pyschiatrist and was declared insane.



Married off



Later, Anmol was taken to Aligarh and married off to a girl from Delhi, with the help of policemen, thanks to Anmol’s uncle, who is a policeman.



“I spoke to the girl before the marriage and explained my situation and told her that I cannot marry her. However, she told me that I had to marry her to save her father’s honour and I could do whatever I wanted after the marriage,” Anmol explained.



The police threatened to file a false case of dowry harassment against him, if he did not marry. They even invited journalists to the wedding and the strange story of the crying bridegroom was covered in the local papers.



Anmol was sent to Delhi as the media stories started drawing people to their house with queries. As soon as he went to Delhi, Anmol sought his wife’s permission and immediately came to Bangalore. But things did not change drastically for him.



Traced and attacked



His parents, along with relatives, came to Bangalore, traced him and attacked him once again and this time in front of the police.



Anmol’s advocate Brijesh Singh says that toughest part has been to seek help from the police here or any other place.



“We even went to State Human Rights Commission, but they say they cannot do much as nothing has happened here. Same is the case with the police. In fact, when he was beaten up last time at the police station, they just watched, saying it’s a family matter. The police here talk of jurisdictional issues. We have been left with no option,” he said.



Madiwala ACP Subbanna, who was approached for help said: “The boy is married. The only recourse he has is legal. There is nothing much we can do about it.”

Anmol has again gone into hiding as his parents are in Bangalore looking for him.