Kerala couple asked to show proof of marriage, later attacked: Two men booked

The couple was reportedly sitting inside an auto rickshaw as the woman was breastfeeding their child.

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In an incident of moral policing in Kerala, Tirur police on Thursday booked two men from Malappuram district for attacking a couple who were travelling with their toddler.

The incident took place when Tirur residents, Jamsheer and Safia, were travelling in their own auto rickshaw along with their toddler. The auto-rickshaw was parked on the roadside near Thirunavaya, as the woman was breastfeeding her child. As per Tirur police, the child is below two years of age.

According to reports, when Jamsheer started the auto again, two men, who noticed the couple in the vehicle, began following them and blocked them while raising doubts that they are not a married couple.

The men reportedly attacked Jamsheer, saying that the woman was not his wife and the baby, not his child. “The men came on a bike and started questioning why we were sitting in the autorickshaw. They began to attack me and even pushed my child,” Jamsheer told media on Thursday.

Even though the couple told the men they are married, they were asked to give proof of their marriage.

Passersby quickly came to the rescue of the family. Jamsheer sustained minor injuries and was taken to a district government hospital in Tirur following the incident.

“It has turned out that in Malappuram, no couple can go out without taking proof of their marriage along with them, even if they have a child with them,” Ruyesh, a social worker in Malappuram, told Asianet News while reacting to the incident.

It was Ruyesh who helped the couple file a complaint with the police against the men. Tirur police confirmed to TNM that they have registered a case against two men, who are yet to be identified.

The duo has been charged under section 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 334 (voluntarily causing hurt on provocation) of Indian Penal Code.

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