After a woman from Madhya Pradesh approached the Madras High Court claiming that her parents wanted to kill her to offer a "human sacrifice," the Tamil Nadu government said on Thursday that it will provide adequate protection to her.

State Public Prosecutor and Senior Advocate Hasan Mohamed Jinnah assured Justice G Chandrasekharan that the State would ensure that the 23-year-old petitioner is given adequate police protection.

The Court recorded the State's submissions and issued notice to the petitioner's parents, who are required to respond to the plea within three weeks. It also directed the Tamil Nad Police and the Madhya Pradesh Police to file their respective status reports. 

Justice Chandrasekharan also remarked orally that it was "disheartening to hear that the practice of human sacrifice was still prevalent in the 21st century."

The woman, who was present in court, claimed that her parents were highly superstitious people, who were planning to offer her as a human sacrifice. She also said that her parents had close links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Further, she alleged that her parents, their acquaintances belonging to the RSS and the ABVP, and members of the Madhya Pradesh Police were all complicit and were looking for her.

In her petition filed on Wednesday, the woman had said that her parents believed in black magic, and that they - particularly her stepmother - planned to kill her as part of a human sacrifice.

The plea stated that she had escaped from her parents' home and come to Tamil Nadu, as she had heard that the State was the "safest place for women." She had thus urged the Court to direct the local police to provide protection to her.