The family members of an inter-caste couple have been ostracised and imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh by a Kangaroo court at Jogirpalayam village near Shoolagiri in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district to discourage such marriages.

When they failed to pay the fine, the groom’s house was locked and fenced with barbwire and the family was forced to live in a hut outside their own house. The family members were also threatened not to venture out of their house until they pay the fine. After three days of ordeal, the police removed the barbwire and arrested the village headman and three others for various charges under the IPC on the complaint of the groom.

It all started when Chandru, 23, eloped with his girlfriend Deivanai from his village and got married in April last year. Chandru belongs tp Boyer community while his wife Deivanai is from Vanniyar, the dominant caste in their village as well as in the district. Both are backward communities.

“Both the family members were facing various troubles from the village headman Raghavan and his henchmen after we eloped. We stayed out of the village sensing more trouble,” Chandru said in his complaint to the Krishnagiri Superintendent of the police. After his wife gave birth in April this year, Chandru visited the village along with his wife and six-day-old baby but the village headman convened a kangaroo court to impose a fine of Rs 3 lakh and banned the couple from entering the village. Also ostracised the family until they pay the fine.

Chandru, who works in an automobile ancillary manufacturing unit in Hosur, tried to bargain and pay the fine to lead a peaceful life, the headman refused to accept nothing less than Rs 3 lakh. In order to force him to pay the fine, the headman along with his supporters locked Chandru’s house and forced his parents, grandparents and brother to live in a thatched hut, he said, adding that Raghavan also fenced the house with barbwire on Sunday. “My parents suffered without food and water for the last three days,” he said.

After he filed a complaint with the SP on Tuesday, the Shoolagiri police Inspector visited the village and rescued his family members. An FIR has been filed against Raghavan and three others under sections 448 (house trespass), 384 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and they have been remanded in judicial custody.