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Kalyug ki shaadi: Do phool ek mali: The Times of India
Lucknow, Nov 25: Even as you read this piece, a busload of baratis would be on their way from Lucknow Cantonment to a guest house in Jalaun to attend what could well be the most unconventional wedding of the 21st century.
Lucknow, Nov 25: Even as you read this piece, a busload of baratis would be on their way from Lucknow Cantonment to a guest house in Jalaun to attend what could well be the most unconventional wedding of the 21st century.
At 7 pm Tuesday, Lucknow resident 27-year-old Amar Verma will tie the knot with two girls, Priti 21 and Ragini 18 — both of whom happen to be real sisters!
The stage for this unusual package deal was, however, set much earlier — on October 5 to be precise, when the bridegroom’s father agreed to this bizarre pre-condition laid by the bride’s father.
At the tilak ceremony held at a Gurdwara in Cantonment, Ramswaroop consented to retired school teacher Sohan Lal’s wish that Amar marry both his daughters, one of whom is handicapped.
“Sohan Lal was finding it seemingly impossible to find a groom for his elder daughter Priti, who is confined to wheelchair. When we went to seek Ragini’s hand for Amar, he asked us to also take Priti as a bride,” recalls Ramswaroop.
“Initially, we were bewildered at the proposition but we finally agreed to it. I will treat my bahus equally and expect my son to do the same,” he adds, denying allegations that the arrangement had anything to do with dowry. Similar views are aired by his wife Malti and her youngest son, Mihir Deep.
Priti’s handicap is not a deterrent for Amar too. Neither is the fact that he will have to play husband to two women in the same house and at the same time.
“I have met the girls individually and I like both of them,” says a blushing Amar, taking time off from guests attending the preetibhoj held at his residence in Hata Ramdas on Monday evening. While the double wedding has raised the hackles of some NGOs, city lawyers are not too sure whether it would violate the laws of bigamy under the Hindu Marriage Act.
“Section 494 IPC provides for imprisonment of up to seven years in cases of bigamy. But I don’t know whether Amar could be prosecuted under this section,” says advocate Shailesh Kumar.
“The Hindu Marriage Act nullifies any marriage between persons one of whom has a spouse living at the time of the marriage. But in this case, Section 494 cannot be applied on Amar until there is an aggrieved party and it’s proved that Amar is marrying a second time. Since both the girls are marrying simultaneously, the courts will be unable to decide which of the two wedding to nullify. For all I know, he might even get away with it,” adds Kumar.
At 7 pm Tuesday, Lucknow resident 27-year-old Amar Verma will tie the knot with two girls, Priti 21 and Ragini 18 — both of whom happen to be real sisters!
The stage for this unusual package deal was, however, set much earlier — on October 5 to be precise, when the bridegroom’s father agreed to this bizarre pre-condition laid by the bride’s father.
At the tilak ceremony held at a Gurdwara in Cantonment, Ramswaroop consented to retired school teacher Sohan Lal’s wish that Amar marry both his daughters, one of whom is handicapped.
“Sohan Lal was finding it seemingly impossible to find a groom for his elder daughter Priti, who is confined to wheelchair. When we went to seek Ragini’s hand for Amar, he asked us to also take Priti as a bride,” recalls Ramswaroop.
“Initially, we were bewildered at the proposition but we finally agreed to it. I will treat my bahus equally and expect my son to do the same,” he adds, denying allegations that the arrangement had anything to do with dowry. Similar views are aired by his wife Malti and her youngest son, Mihir Deep.
Priti’s handicap is not a deterrent for Amar too. Neither is the fact that he will have to play husband to two women in the same house and at the same time.
“I have met the girls individually and I like both of them,” says a blushing Amar, taking time off from guests attending the preetibhoj held at his residence in Hata Ramdas on Monday evening. While the double wedding has raised the hackles of some NGOs, city lawyers are not too sure whether it would violate the laws of bigamy under the Hindu Marriage Act.
“Section 494 IPC provides for imprisonment of up to seven years in cases of bigamy. But I don’t know whether Amar could be prosecuted under this section,” says advocate Shailesh Kumar.
“The Hindu Marriage Act nullifies any marriage between persons one of whom has a spouse living at the time of the marriage. But in this case, Section 494 cannot be applied on Amar until there is an aggrieved party and it’s proved that Amar is marrying a second time. Since both the girls are marrying simultaneously, the courts will be unable to decide which of the two wedding to nullify. For all I know, he might even get away with it,” adds Kumar.