Eloped girl attends father's funeral amid security, abuse by kin

 A 22-year-old girl, whose elopement and subsequent marriage with a man of her choice drove her parents to suicide, attended her father’s funeral amid police security and a volley of abuses from her relatives on Monday.

Rashmi M, an engineering student from Shivapura, Peenya, turned up for the last rites of her father, Manichandra, at the Chamarajpet crematorium after her relatives issued an appeal through the media. She had skipped her mother’s funeral, fearing a violent backlash from her relatives. Her family kept Manichandra’s mortal remains in the house till 10 am on Monday, hoping she will turn up but she didn’t. Then they took the body to the crematorium.

Rashmi arrived at the crematorium under police cover that she had asked for. The relatives could not bear the sight of her and hurled abuses at her. They even tried to prevent her from paying her last respects. Unable to control her emotions seeing her father’s mortal remains, she collapsed at his feet and wept inconsolably.

Rashmi was dating Sridhar Gowda, a native of Mandya who became her family’s tenant, for the last 9 months. When her parents learnt about the affair, they vehemently opposed it on the grounds that Gowda belonged to a different caste.

On May 13, her birthday, Rashmi asked her parents for permission to go to a mall. They let her go. Sometime later, Gowda called Rashmi’s father and told him they had married.
Manichandra and Sujatha got so distraught at getting the news that they went to a railway track in Gollarahalli near Doddabelavangala on Saturday and ingested poison.
Alarmed passersby took them to hospital. Sujatha died on Saturday and Manichandra on Sunday.

After attending her father’s funeral, Rashmi, along with Gowda, appeared before the Bengaluru North taluk tahsildar at Kandaya Bhavan. Sridhar claimed that Rashmi’s mother supported their marriage. He also claimed ignorance about why Rashmi’s parents committed suicide.

The Doddabelavangala police, who had booked Gowda for abetment of suicide, arrested him. A court in Doddaballapur remanded him in judicial custody.