Earlier this week, it was widely reported that A Prabhu, the AIADMK MLA of Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi, had married a 19-year-old-woman named Soundarya. The bride is a Brahmin, while Prabhu, aged 36, is a Dalit.

The news is that the bride’s father, S Swaminathan, has attempted suicide by dousing himself. He alleged that Prabhu had abducted his daughter and married her forcibly. He also said that Prabhu had been in love with his daughter since she was 15 years old, a minor.

Countering him, the MLA has released a video in which he said that he and Soundarya have been in love just for four months and not four years. "I haven't forced her into marriage. There was no force. I had approached her parents, saying that I want to marry her. But they relented," Prabhu, who reportedly knew the girl's family for 15 years, said. Soundarya can be seen sitting next to him in the video.

On his part, the girl's father said that caste is not at all an issue to him. The only problem is with the age difference between the two, he added.

As the father attempted suicide by dousing himself in inflammable liquid, people around him rescued and admitted him to a hospital.