Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rajesh Kumar Mishra on Thursday refuted his daughter’s allegation that he posed a threat to her life after she married a Dalit man against her family’s wishes, ANI reported. “My daughter is an adult, and has the right to make her choices,” said the Uttar Pradesh legislator, also known as Pappu Bhartaul. He represents Bareilly’s Bithari Chainpur constituency in the Assembly.
On Wednesday, Mishra’s 23-year-old daughter Sakshi Mishra appeared in a video on social media, claiming that she and her husband were being chased and hounded by her father’s goons. The couple had married on July 4, PTI reported.
Watch: UP MLA’s daughter fears honour killing after marrying Dalit, asks police to provide security
“What the media is saying about me is wrong,” Mishra said in a press statement. “I have not given death threats to anyone, nor has any of my men or anyone in my family. My family and I are busy with our work. I am working for the people of my Assembly constituency, and running the BJP’s membership drive. There is no danger to anyone because of me.”
Meanwhile, Bareilly Senior Superintendent of Police Muniraj G said: “We have have seen the video posted by the couple on social media. If they write to us asking for security, then we will certainly provide it to them.”
In the video, Sakshi Mishra appealed to her father, her brother, and their aides to let them live peacefully. “If anything happens to me, my husband, or his family in the future, my father Pappu Bhartaul, Vicky Bhartaul, and my father’s aide Rajeev Rana will be responsible for it,” she added in the video.
Sakshi Mishra also requested other legislators and politicians to stop helping her father, and asked the police to provide them adequate security.
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