The court in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh heard how Vijander, a Dalit boy, had eloped with his girlfriend, Roshni.

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Mr Hale has a controversial past: in 1958, he eloped with his high-school sweetheart, the daughter of John Connally, a future governor of Texas, and the girl committed suicide.

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Also, as leading women's right's lawyer Flavia Agnes points out, a third of rape cases in India are filed by parents against boys with whom their daughters have eloped.

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