Bareilly lawmaker rejects charge, says she ‘has right’ to take her own decision

BJP MLA from Bithari Chainpur in Bareilly Rajesh Mishra’s daughter Sakshi and her husband Ajitesh on Thursday filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court, seeking protection to “live a peaceful life” as a married couple a day after the woman appeared on social media alleging that she faced a threat to life from her father for marrying a Dalit.

The MLA has, however, said he posed no threat to anyone and his daughter has the right to take her own decisions.

Justice YK Srivastava fixed July 15 for the hearing as Sakshi Mishra (23) and her husband Ajitesh Kumar (29) were not present in the court on Thursday. Sakshi had uploaded a video on a social media platform last week, making her marriage with Ajitesh public. In another video, she alleged there was a threat to her life from her father, brother and an associate.

In the video, the woman warned that if anything happens to her or her husband, she would do something that would put him behind bars.

In a second video, her husband Ajitesh talked about narrowly escaping goons sent by Mishra. The couple asked for security, contending that there was a threat to their life from the BJP MLA, who was “unhappy” with their marriage as Sakshi is a Brahmin and Ajitesh a Dalit.

The petitioners prayed that police or Rajesh Mishra do not disturb them in “heir peaceful living as both petitioners were major and had entered into marriage with a free will. In the petition filed in court, the couple has repeated the allegation and sought security.

However, the MLA has rejected his daughter’s charge. “Whatever is going on against me in the media is wrong. I am not opposed to the marriage of my daughter. My only concern is that the boy is more than nine years older than her. As a father I am also concerned about their future because the boy doesn’t earn much,’’ he said in a statement.

“My daughter is an adult and has the right to take her own decisions. Neither I nor my men or any member of my family has given any threat to life to anyone,” Mishra said.

“I and my family are busy in our work. I am doing the people’s work in my constituency and presently running a BJP membership campaign. There is no threat to anyone from me,” he said.

Deputy Inspector General RK Pandey had said earlier that he has asked the Bareilly police chief to provide security to the couple. But he added that police did not know the couple’s current location. Sakshi had also appealed to other MPs and MLAs to not side with her father, also known as Pappu Bhartaul, on the issue.