IAS toppers tie the knot in Kashmir

The love story between 2015-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) topper Tina Dhabi and its second ranker Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan has finally ripened into a bond for life, as the couple entered into wedlock in the groom's homeland Kashmir.

The couple chose Pahalgam- the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir- as their wedding venue, where the reception was thrown by the newly-wed.

While Tina comes from a Hindu Dalit family from the national capital, Khan is a Kashmiri Muslim.

Family sources said the wedding ceremony concluded with the couple along with close relatives visiting Devepora Mattan, Khan's native village in Anantnag district on Sunday.

They said 24-year-old Dabi along with her parents and relatives arrived in Pahalgam on Friday evening and got married at the Pahalgam Club.

The couple reportedly fell in love when the two met at the department of personnel and training office in Delhi for the felicitation function on May 11, 2016.

Dabi had then posted a series of photos of her with Khan on her Facebook page after updating her status as 'In a relationship with Athar Aamir Khan.'

While the families did not oppose their decision, they faced a lot of flak from religious fringe groups, especially on social media.

Some fanatical groups even called it a case of 'love jihad.' The couple has been very open about their relationship and have shared a number of pictures on social media.

For the last two years, the couple has withstood criticism as they came from different religious background.

In 2016, when the media sought Dabi's reaction to it, she said, "I think it is a small price to pay for being in the public eye."

Dabi, the first ever Dalit woman to top the UPSC examinations, is a graduate in Political Science from Delhi's Lady Shri Ram College and Khan pursued a BTech degree from IIT Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.

Both were allocated the Rajasthan cadre of the IAS.