AHMEDABAD: In a country rife with the horror of honour killings, an inter-caste couple from Gujarat — a Dalit man and a Darbar woman — dared to go public with their fight to give a dignified life, free of fear, to couples forced to seek protection from the self-proclaimed guardians of society.Ravindra Bhartiya (30), a computer engineer from Surendranagar, and his wife, Shilpi Bhartiya (28) from Rajkot, say they moves houses at least 20 times since December 29, 2015, the day they married against the wishes of their families and society.The couple say they are under threat from Shilpi’s family in Krushnapur, a village in the Mahuva taluka of Bhavnagar district. They especially fear Shilpi’s father, who has strong influence in politics and with the police.The couple finally sought refuge in nationalism, shedding their caste-specific surnames in favour of ‘Bhartiya’ (Indians).“Assuming the ‘Bhartiya’ surname has not helped, as we are still threatened. There have been scores of attempts to assault us and we have received hundreds of threatening messages,” says Ravindra, who runs a tea and snacks cart to make ends meet.Following the heinous murder of Pranay Kumar in Hyderabad — a Dalit man who had married an upper caste woman, Amrutha Varshini — the couple went public for the first time with a protest against ‘honour killings’. They held a demonstration near Babasaheb Circle in the Sarangpur area of Ahmedabad on September 18.The Bhartiyas have also started sheltering other inter-caste couples. So far, they have supported five such couples.Narrating their tale of love, Ravindra stated, “We met each other on Facebook and started chatting from our fake accounts in December 2013. Our friendship bloomed. Once, Shilpi asked me for Rs 15,000 to help her sister, who wanted to study despite her family being against it.”Shilpi said, “Ravindra sold his new mobile phone and sent me the money. This impressed me and I fell for him. As my family is influential and have a rigid mindset, I knew they wouldn’t permit my relationship with Ravindra. So, one fine morning, I told him that I loved him and he accepted on the condition that I marry him.”The couple married in court but a torrent of threats, abuse and attacks followed.Shilpi said that a mob once surrounded their house but they managed to escape with help from their neighbours.The couple were forced to leave their native villages and still can’t set foot there, but they have dared to raise their voice against honour killings. “Honour killing is not the correct term. This is horror killing and ego killing,” said Shilpi, who is now active in various Dalit rights movements.On changing their second name to Bhartiya, Ravindra said, “We believe that soldiers who lose their lives on the borders do not think about caste and embrace martyrdom for the country. We are love-soldiers and we may be killed, but we will not retreat.”

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