Patna: In a most unusual incident, a village court in Bihar has allowed a mother-son duo to formally live as husband and wife after they sought in writing they wanted to marry.
Both were having love affairs for the past eight years and have even admitted they were parents of two children born in recent years although the woman’s 52 year-old legal husband claims the kids were his.
The incident relates to Bhatauli village in Buxur district located in south-western Bihar.
Information available with the local village court said 30-year-old Jawahar Paswan, an employee with the forest department, had married Punam Kumari, 14, more than half of his age, 22 years ago after his first wife died.
However, as her husband remained busy with his work, his wife slowly got attracted to her stepson Vikas Paswan who was exactly her age and they fell in love.
As of now, they no longer want to live as mother and son.
“Both mother [Punam] and son [Vikas] have requested us in writing to allow them to live as husband and wife. But, considering that both are adults, we instead have left this decision to them,” said Malti Devi, the sarpanch (village administrative head) of the local village court.
She said the matter came to the court’s notice only last week but after debating the case for a full week with others, she finally left the decision to them saying they are capable of deciding what is right and what’s wrong.
What’s stranger, however, is that there a virtual war has erupted within the family to lay claims over the two kids — three-year-old girl Babita Kumari and two-year-old Sonu Kumar. While the woman’s legal husband Jawahar Paswan, who has now turned 52, says the children are his, the woman says they are the result of her eight-year-long relationship with her stepson, Vikas.
