Amethi (UP):
A wedding in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi has taken a turn for the bizarre after members of the bride’s family took the groom hostage and demanded that his family reimburse the costs of the preparations. The bride’s family has called off the wedding, alleging that the groom is in a relationship with another woman.
The hostage situation follows dramatic developments ahead of the wedding function last night. The groom, Sohanlal Yadav from Ayodhya, went missing days before the wedding. Unable to reach him, his family filed a missing complaint. Unaware of this situation, the bride’s family made grand preparations for the wedding function. On the night of the wedding, guests started coming in, but the groom was MIA.
Later, the bride’s family was called to the local police station, where they learned of the situation. Following police intervention, the groom eventually agreed to go through with the wedding and reached the bride’s home with the wedding procession around 2.30 am. By then, the bride’s family had wised up to his affair. They treated the groom to a meal but told him that the wedding was off. But he was also told that he could leave only after his family compensated the bride’s family for the wedding costs. Sohanlal remains a hostage at the bride’s home — quite the reverse of the situation he would be in if everything went as planned.
Seated in a decorated car, Sohanlal said, “There was no problem. We just came late. They are now saying they don’t want the wedding and demanding compensation for their expenses. They are not letting me leave.” He insisted that he was never missing. “I had not disappeared. I was in Lucknow. My phone had stopped working. When I somehow switched it back on, the police called me and I reached the police station. I wanted to marry, but they are not ready,” he claimed.
The bride’s father Lal Bahadur Yadav said the wedding was fixed 10 months back. “Three days after the Tilak ceremony, he (groom) said no to the wedding. When we asked why, he said he wanted a car. We agreed to that too. Then he said he did not want the car, but cash instead. We agreed again. We asked him if there was any other problem, and he said no. So we started the preparations.”
On the night of the wedding, guests started leaving but the groom had still not arrived, the bride’s father said. “We kept calling without success. My brother-in-law is from their area. He asked me to come to the police station. When we reached there, we found the groom.”
The groom agreed to the wedding only because cops had warned him that he could face a dowry case. “Under pressure, he agreed to the wedding. When he came here, the villagers wanted to beat him up. I stopped them, we fed him. He ran away three days before the wedding, he is in a relationship with another woman. He should have told us beforehand, then we would not have made such preparations. We want him to pay us for the expenses and then he can leave. We don’t want this wedding. He betrayed before the wedding, what can we expect later?”
Police have tried to reason with the bride’s family, but they have refused to budge.
Inputs by Arun Gupta