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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Marriage by abduction soars in Bihar, over 3,000 grooms tied knot at gunpoint in 2016 -Amitabh Srivastava

Marriage by abduction soars in Bihar, over 3,000 grooms tied knot at gunpoint in 2016 -Amitabh Srivastava

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published Published on Jun 4, 2017   modified Modified on Jun 4, 2017
-India Today

The numbers of marriage by abduction, the tradition is simple: zero-in on a prospective groom, kidnap him and make him tie the nuptial knot at gunpoint, are growing.

May 25 was meant to be a memorable day for Julie, a 19-year-old girl in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, 70 km north of the state capital Patna. A beautician had visited her for makeup and Julie was sparkling in her bridal attire.

Her house was all decked up, the pandit (priest) was there to chant sacred mantra and Abhinay Kumar, a 22-year-old youth she was to tie the nuptial knot, was ready, though under duress. But, just when the marriage mantras were over, the police arrived; searching for the kidnapped groom after his parents registered a case to this effect. But as usual, the cops arrived late, and by the time the marriage was already over.

They still wanted to rescue the groom but the bride and her family - backed with relatives and villagers - put up a tough fight, forcing the cops to beat a hasty retreat. The cops returned an hour later, angrier than before; and in greater number. They swung their batons with such ferocity that it left nearly two dozen men and women, including Julie injured.

Now, a week later, with injuries all over her body, Julie is still struggling to walk straight. The Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police Vivek Kumar has suspended Gayghat police station in-charge Rajesh Choudhary, holding him responsible for excesses. The only positive outcome for Julie in the entire drama was that her husband who was reluctant to marry her initially began to empathise, seeing her writhing in pain.

"I have accepted her as my better half. Whatever difference there is between our families, it will get over shortly. Time will heal everything," he says.

AROUND 3,075 KIDNAPPINGS FOR MARRIAGE IN 2016

Sounds like an unusual way to get married? In Julie and Abhinay's Bihar what is bizarre is not the manner in which the couple walked down the aisle, but the police action that followed. Surprisingly, this is nothing unusual in Bihar as the state witnesses around 3,000 couples getting hitched in the same style, almost every year. Statistics boils down to nine such marriages a day.

Known as Pakadwa Vivah (marriage by abduction), the tradition is simple: zero-in on a prospective groom, kidnap him and make him tie the nuptial knot at gunpoint. And the numbers are in fact growing. Bihar witnessed 3,075 kidnapping for marriage in 2016. It was 3,001 in 2015 and 2,533 in 2014. And a majority of these marriages survive.

Abduction for marriage appears to have remained unabated in 2017 too. According to figures available with the police, Bihar already has reported 830 kidnappings for marriage by March this year. On the other hand, only eight cases of kidnappings for ransom - which Bihar was once infamous for - have been registered during this period.

Clearly, abduction for marriage is almost like an established, acceptable trend in Bihar. The NCRB Crime in India Report, 2015 report - which is the most recent official figure available at present - also confirms that while Bihar is far below other States when it comes to abduction of boys below 18 years of age, it stands at the top in the country when it comes to abductions of above 18-year-old males. In fact, the number of abducted males from Bihar in the 18 to 30 age-group category was 1,096 in 2015. The state alone accounted for nearly 17 per cent of the national figure in the category.

"The abduction of boys for marriage is a direct consequence of social evils like dowry. It is a rearguard action from the bride's family, which finds itself under great material load while arranging the marriage. In a traditionally patriarchal society like Bihar, marriages have become a money-minting enterprise for the boy's parents. So, families without wherewithal to arrange a decent dowry resort to desperate measures like abducting a suitable bridegroom for their daughter's marriage," says Ashok Priyadarshi, a teacher in Nawada, a district infamous for such marriages.

Please click here to read more.

India Today, 4 June, 2017, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bihar-abduction-marriage-at-gunpoint-grooms-kidnapped-shotgun-weddings/1/970317.html


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