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Homes Set Ablaze In Madhya Pradesh's Sehore After Inter-Faith Couple Elopes

“Why should the entire community be punished for the fault of one person?"
Representative image.
Danish Siddiqui / Reuters
Representative image.

Days after a Rajput girl eloped with a Muslim man in a village in Madhya Pradesh, members of the Hindu community allegedly set 20 homes belonging to the minority community on fire. According to reports, the Rajputs of Chhipaner village in Sehore had warned Muslims in the village that their houses would be set on fire if "their girl" was not returned to them. The 16-year-old girl had reportedly run away with a Muslim man in his early 20s on 4 July.

The couple was later traced to Nagpur and the man charged with rape and kidnapping since the girl is a minor. The girl's father is reportedly the deputy sarpanch of the village.

"Why should the entire community be punished for the fault of one person," one Muslim resident reportedly asked the Rajputs, but to no avail. A case has been registered against 50 people, and several of them have been reportedly arrested for arson.

A similar case was reported in Uttar Pradesh earlier in May this year, when the majority community of Yadavs vandalised Muslim homes after another case of inter-faith elopement.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.