Sandeep, 21, is a student of Vivekananda Degree College at Kukatpally while Madhavi, 18, has just completed intermediate. Sandeep, 21, is a student of Vivekananda Degree College at Kukatpally while Madhavi, 18, has just completed intermediate.

An inter-caste couple were attacked by the woman’s father in Hyderabad on Wednesday, seven days after they got married. This came days after a Dalit man was hacked to death in Miryalaguda town of Nalgonda district by a man hired by the father of the upper caste woman he had married, triggering protests. Balla Sandeep (24) and Madhavi (20) got married at an Arya Samaj temple on September 12 after Madhavi’s parents warned her of dire consequences over her relationship, and started looking for a groom to marry her off, the police said.

“On Wednesday afternoon, around 3 pm, (Madhavi’s father) Manohar Chari called Sandeep and told him that he was missing his daughter very much… and asked him to bring her near an automobile showroom on S R Nagar Road. He ambushed them from behind with a sickle… Madhavi is in a very critical condition while Sandeep, who received deep gashes, is out of danger,’’ ACP Vijay Kumar said.

Sources at Yashoda Hospital at Somajiguda, where Madhavi is admitted, said her right hand was almost hacked off, her ear chopped off, and a vein in her neck was cut. “We are preparing to perform a complicated surgery that may last over 10 hours to save her,” an official said.

While Sandeep is from the SC community, Madhavi belongs to OBC community.

Sandeep and Madhavi first met five years ago at an exam centre where they appeared for Class X exams. While their friendship blossomed into love, they recently finished undergraduate courses.

“We knew there was going to be trouble, but no one expected it to go this far,” said B Satish, Sandeep’s elder brother. “My father, who used to work in a hotel, passed away about 10 years ago… After completing my education, I also started working in a hotel and helped Sandeep complete his degree. He was working at a biryani restaurant in Moti Nagar and was earning well,” Satish said.

Sources at S R Nagar police station said that Sandeep, admitted to hospital with serious injuries on his face, had given a written complaint.

He said, he sought police protection after his marriage and their families were called to S R Nagar police station for counselling. “Her parents said that if their daughter was happy with Sandeep then they were reconciled to it… He stated in his complaint that Madhavi’s father, Manohar Chari, never threatened him. So when Chari called him for a meeting, Sandeep did not suspect anything,” an official said.

Chari had aimed for Sandeep’s neck but Madhavi deflected the attack using her hand, which was almost hacked off, police said. Police are looking for Chari who is absconding since the incident. Following Wednesday’s incident and the murder in Miryalaguda town on September 14, police in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh started received hundreds of pleas for protection from inter-caste and inter-religious couples, an official of the Telangana SC Commission said.

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