There are no official figures on honor killings, because they often go unreported or family members pass them off as suicides or natural deaths, according to Human Rights Watch. India's supreme court has issued notices to the national government and several states to protect couples, yet in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh provinces alone, an estimated 900 honor killings occur annually, according to a 2012 report by the U.S. State Department, citing reports from nongovernmental organizations.

The Love Commandos stand a chance of accomplishing what officials have failed to do, said Meenakshi Ganguly, the Southeast Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

"There isn't a social worker network available to these young people who feel really isolated, so this group could be doing a wonderful thing," she said.

The spike in honor killings is partly a result of India's changing cultural norms and a generation fighting to keep things the same.

"There's more television, more kids are going to college and blurring the social lines, so that people have a chance now to find a partner for themselves," Ganguly said.

Dev and Lalita started their relationship and fostered it through calls on mobile phones. They imagine they'd never have even met if it weren't for them both attending the same school, because they lived in villages that were miles apart.

She and Dev called Love Commandos, who are sheltering them in an undisclosed location.

When CNN visited Lalita's family to try to get their side of the story, her grandfather shouted that there was no point. Lalita is "as good as dead" to them, he said.

She knows she can't go home.

Dev says that her family has filed complaints against his with local authorities and that his family and a friend who helped them have been jailed.

But the two married, with Love Commandos' help. The group helped them craft a letter to their families, letting them know.

They are thinking about the future. Dev said he's going to make sure that Lalita continues going to school.

They are happy, they said, and have no regrets.

"We are both fine," Lalita said. "If society thinks otherwise, let them."