Indian Shotgun Weddings…………
“For the next four days, Mr Avinash was locked up in a room and beaten by the gangsters. His pleas and offers to pay ransom for his release did not buy him freedom. “They blindfolded me and took me in a car. I was again locked up in a room there,” Mr Avinash said. He was then asked to put on the traditional wedding clothes for the region, including an embroidered knee-length gown and decorated head dress. “They threatened me of dire consequences in case I tried to flee,” he added. He was led by two men to a fully decorated wedding venue and made to sit beside a woman in bridal attire. The wedding was then solemnised according to Hindu rituals. “I had no idea what was happening until I actually got married. I couldn’t do anything out of fear,” Mr Avinash said. Before the function was over the gangsters advised him to comply with his wife and his in-laws. The next day Mr Avinash took his bride home. His fuming family vowed revenge against his in-laws, but the fear of the kidnappers’ vengeance forced them to submit to the forced marriage.…… “Earlier it [groom abduction] was common among high caste Hindu’s but now it has spread to some other communities and it may be adopted by others also,” he said. “Parents have become more ambitious. They want to marry off their daughters to well-off boys. They can use illegal means to get it done.”…..….”
Different strokes for different folks.
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