JOIN USAmid coronavirus lockdown, youth kidnapped and married at gunpoint
While the entire country is grappling with coronavirus and Bihar too tested another positive case on Sunday thereby taking the tally to 11, a bizarre incident has taken place in the state amid the lockdown.
A 25-year-old youth was kidnapped at gunpoint from Vaishali and forcibly married in another district Samastipur.
Touted as ‘Pakadua vivah’ (forced wedding), it’s an unusual practice in this part of the cow-belt, where the bride family members use musclemen to kidnap the prospective groom and he is forced to enter the wedlock at gunpoint.
One such incident took place when a young man Amit Kumar of Mahnar in Vaishali district was kidnapped in a SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) near Jandaha when he was passing through a primary health centre (PHC). His father Musafir Ali was also with him. The miscreants abducted the father of the prospective groom too.
The father-son duo was taken to Samastipur where Amit was married to a local girl at gunpoint, even though it’s ‘kharmas’ (inauspicious period for wedding, as per Hindi calendar).
Later, Musafir Rai somehow managed to escape from the clutches of his abductors and narrated his tale of woes to the Jandaha police in Vaishali. The cops eventually raided Samastipur and recovered the youth who reportedly wept inconsolably for being forced to marry at gunpoint.
The youth Amit, on Saturday, was produced before a local court in Hajipur, the headquarters of Vaishali. “Amit recorded his statement in the court under Section 164 of the CrPC,” said the police source, adding that the court later allowed him to return to his home in Mahnar.
The bride is presently with her family members. “Five persons have been named accused in this case. Further action will be taken as per the court’s directive,” said Officer-in-charge (O-C) of Jandaha police station, Ajay Kumar.