Kozhikode: Kevin's ghost is giving Vivek nightmares. There are many similarities between Vivek K who hails from Vengara in Malappuram and Kevin P Joseph who was killed and dumped in a canal by the family of his wife Neenu in what the High Court has now described as "honour killing".
Kevin, like Neenu's family, was Christian. Yet, Neenu's parents and her brother could not stand him because his Christianity had an attribute they detested. Kevin was a Dalit Christian, and from a poor family to boot. It looks as if Vivek is reliving Kevin's life. He had fallen in love with Nesla, a Muslim girl from his neighborhood, and had married her last July. The girl's parents have sworn vengeance. Vivek now fears the day he would meet Kevin's fate.
Again, it is Vivek's dalit status that seems to have enraged his in-laws more than anything. “For her parents and relatives, my religion was not the issue, but the fact that I'm a Dalit. I am Hindu, and she is a Muslim. Neither of us had converted into the other's religion to get married. We are still following the same faith. But her family, however, is not able to accept it. For nearly six months my father had been getting threatening calls from her father, who is working in Saudi Arabia. Frequently, her mother and relatives are either meeting us or threatening us over phone,” Vivek says.
Their love story started when Nesla was a plus-one student, and Vivek had begun his career in a leading private bank. Now, four years later, she is a second-year law student. A year after they first met, Nesla's family came to know about the relationship and warned her as well as Vivek. The lovers became discreet. Nesla's family, therefore, was silent for a while thinking perhaps that the couple had broken up, and even let the girl go out and study. Nesla joined the college at Idimuzhikkal, and Vivek's bank in Ramanattukara was just 3 km away. This provided them the chance to meet often.
Vivek had informed his family about Nesla and that he might have to bring her home soon. His family agreed to it. However, things turned worse when Nesla's family filed a missing complaint. Nonetheless, much to the chagrin of Nesla's parents, the Manjeri district court let her go with Vivek on July 6. The couple got married at Vyragimadom temple in Kozhikode on July 12.
“We had to shift our accommodation several times after being threatened by her family. I submitted a petition before the Malappuram collector, and Thenhipalam police was providing protection. On November 14, her sister and mother came in a car to her campus and dragged her forcefully inside. They took her to a mental asylum at Erwadi. But when she managed to switch on her phone, the police could track her location,” says Vivek. Nesla's fate echoed Neenu's, who too was sought to be branded 'mentally unstable" by her family.
Though Nesla's mother Bushra and uncle Ali were arrested, they secured bail from Kozhikode district court. “The case is being investigated and the report is to be filed at the court. The girl's mother and uncle got bail from the court,” Feroke station SI Anil Kumar said.
For the couple there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. Vivek has been sacked from the bank, thanks to the constant ruckus Nesla's family had created at his work place. He has been jobless ever since. Though he has been attending job interviews, no one is yet to offer him a position.