After much struggle, eighteen-year-old Alfiya and 21-year-old Akhil, an interfaith couple, will finally get married in Thiruvananthapuram’s Kovalam on Tuesday, June 20. The couple had tried to tie the knot at a temple near Kovalam on Saturday, June 17, but a police team from Kayamkulam halted the marriage and forcefully took Alfiya away. A video of the police pushing and yanking Alfiya into a vehicle as she tries to resist them has been doing the rounds on social media since then.
In the video, a police officer from Kayamkulam is heard shouting at Alfiya, while she is seen screaming, asking them not to take her away. Speaking to TNM, Alfiya said that the Kayamkulam police behaved very badly, using disrespectful words to address her while dragging her forcefully into their vehicle. “One of the officers shouted at me. Inside the vehicle while traveling, they were teasing me saying I am not yet 18 years old,” she said. The incident happened outside the Kovalam police station a prior to the couple’s wedding at a temple.
Alfiya said that they have filed a complaint against the conduct of the police at the Kovalam police station. “I was taken to the magistrate's house in Kayamkulam on Sunday. From there, I was allowed to go with Akhil. We will get married on Tuesday,June 20,” Alfiya said.
Akhil and Alfiya come from two different faiths and they decided to get married at a temple in Kovalam. Akhil is a Hindu by faith and Alfiya, a Muslim. After their families opposed their relationship, Alfiya left from her residence in Kayamkulam to marry Akhil at Kovalam. Meanwhile, Alfiya‘s family filed a missing complaint at Kayamkulam, following which the Kayamkulam police filed a First Information Report (FIR) there. But Alfiya said that the couple had informed the Kovalam police on June 16, Friday, that she had decided to marry Akhil and came with him out of her full consent. “On Friday, I came from Kayamkulam. Then my family came to Kovalam and we were called to the police station. I gave a statement that I came from home on my own free will. It was after this incident that my family filed a missing complaint back in Kayamkulam,” she added.
Kovalam Station House Officer Bijoy told TNM that to close the FIR, the Kayamkulam police had to produce Alfiya before the magistrate. “They were not willing to go with the police, that is why she was forced. That is the procedure, and we helped the Kayamkulam police. After producing her before the magistrate, she went with the boy,” the officer said.