21 April,2011 05:49 AM IST | | Manoj Chakraborty
For Seema Devidas Shinde (19), it was the end of the world when her upper caste husband refused to accept her, fearing social ostracism. Disillusioned with life, Seema tried commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, but was saved by some passers-by who brought her to the Kalewadi police chowky.
Love story
Seema used to teach kids at a construction site in Rahatni village, where she met Prakash Kadam (23) of Kalewadi, who worked as a construction worker. After a couple of interactions love blossomed and everything was going fine until Seema became pregnant.
After learning about the pregnancy, Seema's family asked Prakash to marry her. They got married at Venkatesh Mangal Karyalaya in Alandi on November 7. She was seven-months pregnant at that time. Prakash did not take Seema to his home after marriage and asked her to stay at a women's organisation named Chaitanya Mahila Mandal, which promised to look after Seema till she delivered the child.
Seema delivered a baby girl in January this year after which her family members pressurised Prakash to inform his parents about the marriage and child and also take Seema home. Fearing opposition from his orthodox parents, Prakash asked for some more time and advised Seema to keep the child at Balgram Ashram in Akurdi.
After waiting for four months, Seema confronted Prakash on Tuesday evening and they had a big fight. In a state of anguish, Seema attempted to jump off from the Kalewadi bridge. She was luckily saved by some passers-by who handed her to policemen at Kalewadi chowky.u00a0 "It's a family matter between Seema and Prakash so we have not taken any action yet. However if the woman's family files an official complaint, we will register a case against the man," Police Sub-Inspector P B Jadhav.
MNS intervenes
After the woman was brought to the chowky, the police allegedly refused to take action against her husband, so some activists of the Pimpri unit of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party intervened in the matter. "MNS activists visited the Kalewadi police chowky to raise their discontent against Prakash. The police have given Prakash and his family a few days' time to resolve the issue," said Babasaheb Jagtap, a party activist.
