A 25-year-old Dalit man was allegedly murdered in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar by in-laws who opposed his marriage to their 18-year-old daughter, reported The Indian Express on Saturday.

The woman’s family belongs to the Other Backward Classes community.

The man, Amit Murlidhar Salunkhe, was attacked with sharp instruments on July 14 by his father-in-law and his wife’s brother, according to the newspaper. He died in hospital on Friday.

His wife, Vidya Kirtishahi, reportedly told the police that her parents had cited the plot of the popular Marathi-language film Sairat while warning her against the marriage.

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Nagraj Manjule’s award-winning film, released in 2016, tells the story of a dominant-caste girl who falls in love with and eventually marries a lower-caste boy. They are hacked to death by members of the girl’s family in retaliation.

“My parents wanted to forcibly marry me off to someone else,” Kirtishahi told the police, according to The Indian Express. “They had taken Rs 4 lakh from that youth, but that marriage was not acceptable to me. I married Amit with each other’s consent. We married as per our religious customs. Initially the families did not accept us. After marriage, my family threatened me that they would do our ‘Sairat’.”

Salunkhe’s family protested at a local police station on the day his death, demanding that both his assailants be apprehended. They had reportedly accepted the marriage and even tried on several occasions to persuade Kirtishahi’s relatives to follow suit.

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While Kirtishahi’s 35-year-old cousin has been arrested in the case, her 52-year-old father has secured anticipatory bail, Deputy Commissioner of Police Navneet Kumar Kavat told The Indian Express. “We will be appealing in the Bombay High Court to get his bail cancelled,” Kavat said.

Kavat added that Salunkhe and Kirtishahi had not asked for police protection, a common request from intercaste and interfaith couples who fear reprisal from their families.