This story is from September 18, 2020

Ahmedabad: Eloped couple survives on temple alms

“The course of true love never did run smooth,” wrote William Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A young couple from near Dholera has been living these words of the Bard of Avon for the past few months.
Ahmedabad: Eloped couple survives on temple alms
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AHMEDABAD: “The course of true love never did run smooth,” wrote William Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A young couple from near Dholera has been living these words of the Bard of Avon for the past few months.
Missing for the last nine months, when they were finally traced last week, they were found surviving on alms from a temple. Hailing from families of agriculturists, the couple fell into extreme poverty after the youth lost his job as a diamond worker during the Covid-19 lockdown.
With even small jobs drying up, the couple was forced to take shelter in a temple.
After eloping with her boyfriend last December, the 17-year-old girl found the act had unwittingly made the love of her life a Pocso accused. The girl’s father lodged an FIR with Dholera police station, accusing the 21-year-old youth of abducting his minor daughter.
Police inaction led the girl’s father to Gujarat high court, which ordered the cops to produce the girl before it. However, the lockdown stalled the process for three months. The cops finally traced the couple to a temple on Mehsana road. Police found them insolvent, earning their meals by helping the priest in daily chores. The investigator reported this to HC when the girl was produced before it. The youth was taken into police custody on abduction charges.
The girl refused to join her parents and asserted that she got married to her boyfriend as soon as she attained adulthood in July 2020. While she was not ready to go with her parents, her husband’s family distanced themselves from the couple, fearing implication in the case.
The HC has ordered the girl be sent to the Nari Vikas Gruh in Paldi to give her a cooling off period to think over her father’s insistence on returning to the family. The father’s advocate, A A Zabuawala, said, “We have requested police to inquire into how the couple survived for 5-6 months during the lockdown. The solemnization of their marriage is also yet to be ascertained.”
The HC posted a further hearing in this case for September 18 and permitted the girl’s parents to meet her on court premises. Meanwhile, the HC ordered that legal aid be provided to the youth.
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About the Author
Saeed Khan

Saeed Khan is special corespondent at The Times of India, Ahmedabad. He reports on courts and legal issues. He also covers the income tax and customs departments. He loves spending time at roadside tea stalls, chatting up friends and getting news at the same time.

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