What happened to Mahakumbh viral woman? Couple now living in fear

The case against the husband, 26, was filed by the woman’s father, claiming that his daughter was a minor, and had been abducted. She has however produced documents showing she is 18. As she belongs to a tribal community, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) is also probing the matter.

‘Married to Pakistani’ threat

In their plea to the High Court seeking police protection, the couple said she had got a call threatening her that while she had become “a star” during the Kumbh Mela, she had “got married to a Pakistani”. “The caller threatened to shoot her.”

Kannan said: “Apart from the Madhya Pradesh Police chasing him, hardline Hindutva groups in Kerala have also come out against the husband.”

He said other colleagues besides him have been helping the two. “They do not stay in one place. They are not using mobile phones either… They are afraid that the Hindutva groups may hand them over to similar groups in Madhya Pradesh.”

Following the spotlight on the woman at the Mahakumbh Mela, she had got some media offers, and it was for this that she came to Kerala in March, and met the 26-year-old.

As they expressed their desire to marry, her father filed a case and insisted she return with him to Madhya Pradesh. The couple sought asylum at a police station in Thiruvananthapuram and, after she refused to go with her father, the film crew stepped in to help them get married.

A senior Madhya Pradesh Police officer said the case was under investigation. “We are proceeding with our investigation and may also add additional Sections relating to forgery in the case. Our investigation has found that false documents were used to secure the marriage certificate.”

Father urges officials to reissue birth cirtificate

Her parents have said that the birth certificate she submitted, showing her date of birth as January 1, 2008, and making her 18-plus, was the result of an error.

The father said he had submitted an application to “(the) Tehsildar requesting that an order be issued for the issuance of a revised birth certificate for his daughter, reflecting the accurate date of birth obtained from hospital records”.

Sources said the NCST has also determined the woman to be a minor, with the hospital where she was born recording her date of birth as December 30, 2009. That made her age at the time of the wedding on March 11 at 16 years, 2 months and 12 days, the panel reportedly has found.

Sources said the NCST visited the temple where the marriage was solemnised, to verify the documents submitted by the couple, including their Aadhaar cards, besides an undertaking that they were adults and marrying of their own free will

The NCST has reportedly recommended an FIR against the husband under Sections of kidnapping a woman to compel her to marry, fraudulent marriage, rape, cohabitation under false pretences, multiple Sections under the POCSO Act, as well as the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act.