New Delhi: The Bombay and Madhya Pradesh High Courts may have come to their rescue, but it's not the end of trouble yet for the Hindu-Muslim couple - Mohammed Umer and Priyanka Wadhwani - from Bhopal.
The incensed Sindhi community has come up with some guidelines for their girls and have advised them not to use mobile phones or ride two-wheelers.
The girls have also been advised from covering their faces fully with scarves as community elders feel they use these scarves to hide their faces to protect their identity when they are with boys.
They feel that even at 18, girls are not mature enough to take the right decision as far as choosing their life partners is concerned.
Also with the Bajrang Dal trying to make the most of this issue, Umer and Priyanka are still facing death threats.
Priyanka and Umer left Bhopal for Mumbai on April 2 and got married in a traditional Hindu ceremony the next day after Umer converted to Hinduism and changed his name to Umesh.
Despite both being adults the Bhopal police lodged a case of kidnapping against Umer.
The couple alleged in their petition that Umer's brother - Shakeel - was picked up by the police in Bhopal and detained illegally at the Koh-e-Fiza police station in Bhopal.
Later the police denied that they had ever taken Shakeel into custody though his wife Zeba alleges she visited him at the police station.
Shakeel's family alleges the police were under pressure from saffron organisations, which gheraoed the SP’s office and demanded action against Umar.
However, the police' lie was nailed after a Citizen Journalist managed to enter the lockup and recorded visuals of Shakeel in detention.
After CNN-IBN carried the story, the Bombay High Court intervened and has declared Umar and Priyanka's marriage valid. Shakeel too has been released.
The court has ordered that security be provided to the family in lieu of the threat that they face from the society.
The judges have also asked Bhopal SP to file a reply to the couple's petition by April 18.
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