Her Father From BJP. He Is From Congress. Let Us Marry, They Plead

New Delhi: In election season in Karnataka, this is a tale of thwarted love. Her father is from the BJP, was a minister. He is a Congressman - and belongs to a different caste. Today, the Supreme Court was asked to unite them.

The woman, 26, who is an engineer, says that her father forced her to marry someone else a few weeks ago in the district of Gulbarga. She ran away and travelled to Delhi to ask that judges annul her marriage.

They refused but said the Karnataka police must offer her lover and her protection. 

Last month, the Supreme Court said that it would not interfere in an adult's decision on whom to marry - this was in the Hadiya case, where a Kerala woman converted to Islam and then married a Muslim. Her father persuaded the Kerala High Court to annul their marriage; Hadiya was ordered to live with her parents. The top court intervened, said her marriage was valid and said she could live with her husband. It however allowed the country's top counter-terror agency to investigate the marriage, along with some others in Kerala, to determine if terror groups are recruiting young Hindu women through marriage - what is controversially referred to as "love jihad". 

In the Karnataka case, the couple is worried about their security and wants their identity to be concealed. The young woman is being represented by noted lawyer Indira Jaising.

The couple has been told to give their statement on the threats they face, allegedly from the woman's father and brother, to the Additional Solicitor General of Karnataka. The Supreme Court will also hear the case next month. 

In election season, the Congress could take political mileage of this case, but for now, their identities are secret and so the name of the woman's father who is a BJP leader cannot be revealed.