india

Updated: Oct 20, 2019 13:59 IST

The 28-year-old daughter of a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator in Madhya Pradesh has approached the high court seeking protection from her father as she accused him of harassing her and forcing her to marry a politician’s son.

Bharti Singh’s plea in the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court came on Saturday, two days after Surendra Nath Singh lodged a missing report about his daughter.

Bharti Singh also released a video alleging that her family trying to prove that she was mentally unstable and have gathered fake documents to prove their point.

“I am not with any Christian, Muslim or a man from any other caste. I have left home on my own so it should not be turned into a caste issue. I want to live in peace and have left home on my own will,” she said in the 56-second clip.

“I don’t want to be harassed and I am in peace wherever I am living…. I don’t want to go back home. My family members were harassing me a lot. I am mentally stable and my family has been falsely blaming me of being mental unstable,” she added.

Her lawyer Ankit Saxena said Surendra Singh is harassing her because Bharti wants to marry a Muslim man against her father’s wish.

“Bharti’s father wanted to solemnise her marriage with a son of a politician and that’s why she left her home. She doesn’t want to go back home,” said Saxena.

In her petition filed in the high court, Bharti has also pleaded for police protection.

Saxena said Bharti was harassed by her cousin Sushil and maternal uncle, who is posted in the police department.

“She lodged a complaint on the CM helpline and with state women commission in 2018 but after the complaint, police personnel took her to a private hospital where she was administered an injection,” he added.

“The matter was suppressed as her father has good relations with the police. She was not provided with any protection and sent back to her home where she was harassed. Later, Bharti left the home and started living in Pune and doing a job in the fitness centre,” said Saxena.

Surendra Nath Singh said that it was a family matter and he didn’t want to make it a public issue.

“As I said in a complaint lodged with Kamla Nagar police station, my daughter is mentally unstable and she is being treated for the past five to six years. It is not the first time when she has run away from home. She took this step earlier too,” the politician said.

Bharti Singh’s video came after the daughter of a BJP legislator in Uttar Pradesh alleged in July that her life was in danger from her father after she married a Dalit man and asked the police for security. She had also moved court seeking protection.