COVID-19: Indian elopes with fiancée fearing surging cases could delay wedding
After tracing them, village head calls priest to perform their wedding months in advance
Patna: A man in the Indian state of Bihar eloped with his fiancée, fearing surging COVID-19 infections and possible lockdown could delay their wedding.
The bizarre incident took place in West Champaran district on Monday evening. According to reports, the wedding of Vikas Kumar, a resident of Bairiya village from the district, had been fixed with Puja Kumari from the same district with the mutual consent of both the families.
Their wedding was scheduled to be solemnized on May 11 this year. The couple, too, was happy over finalization of their wedding plan and formally began chatting over phones.
However, Vikas suffered a virtual heartbreak when COVID-19 cases began surging alarmingly in the past fortnight, ultimately prompting the state government to impose some severe restrictions to check spread of the infections. The restrictions included placing a ban on taking out wedding processions, hiring musical bands, limiting the number of wedding guests to 50 and imposing night curfew.
Apprehending the continuing restrictions and possible lockdown could ultimately ruin their wedding plans, Vikas rushed to the house of his would-be bride on Sunday and eloped with her to get married.
In the meanwhile, the girl’s family got worried after not finding her at home and launched extensive searches for her. Eventually, she was traced with the boy and the matter reached the local village council head.
Taking the matter seriously, the village council chief Sajida Begum called both the families and convinced them to solemnize their wedding. Within no time, a priest was called at the residence of Begum and the wedding was finally solemnized on Monday evening.
Local villagers were amused after wedding songs playing in the house of council head at this time which is not considered “auspicious” for weddings in Hindu calendar. In Hindu calendar, all kinds of auspicious functions remain strictly banned between December 14 to January 14 as it is considered very “inauspicious”.
“I eloped with the girl as I thought our wedding may not be solemnized this year if the government enforced lockdown in a bid to check spread of infection,” Vikas told the media on Tuesday. Their wedding has now become the talk of the town.
