I was forced to marry woman at gunpoint, claims Indian groom

INDIAN police are investigating after a man says he was abducted and forced to marry a woman at gunpoint.

Dubbed a literal shotgun wedding, the nuptials took place in the eastern state of Bihar, according to police and video clips that surfaced online.

The family of Vinod Kumar, an engineer at a steel plant in Bokaro, claims he was abducted and coerced into the pakadua vivah, or forced wedding.

The case is unusual even for a relatively volatile state like Bihar as the protagonists are from middle-class, urban, high caste families.

Typical forced marriage cases involve lower caste, rural families and more often than not the abductee is a bride, not a groom.

Although cases are rare, men are known to be coerced into marriage to force them to enter legal agreements over property or business with the bride’s family, or simply so the woman’s relatives do not have to put up an expensive dowry to attract a suitor.

Police say Mr Kumar’s relatives approached them a few weeks after the incident for protection, as they feared reprisals from a local underworld chief. Mr Kumar’s brother also said one of the bride’s family was holding a gun during the ceremony.

Supt Manu Maharaj, from Patna, the state capital, then ordered officers to free Mr Kumar from the village where he was held after the marriage.

The groom is currently under police protection and the bride and her relatives are said to be on the run, local media reported. The story came to light when video clips of the ceremony surfaced this week, showing a distraught Mr Kumar being coerced into performing traditional Hindu wedding rituals.

When the engineer, 29, refused to put vermilion, the traditional red dye used in Hindu weddings, on the bride’s forehead, members of her family are heard saying in the local language: “Are you being hanged? We are solemnising your wedding only. Which mountain is being placed on your head?”

Sanjay Kumar, Mr Kumar’s brother, alleges Surendra Yadav, described as a gangster by local media, orchestrated the events at the behest of the bride’s family. News18 interviewed Umesh Prasad, the bride’s brother, who denied that it was a forced marriage and said it was a normal wedding. When asked about the video clips on the web, in which the groom was seen being manhandled, Mr Prasad said: “I do not know about any video. He is now opposing this marriage at the behest of his brother. I wish they live a happy married life.”

Mr Kumar said local police were unhelpful, which is why he went to the police in Patna.

Supt Amarkesh, of Patna Police, in charge of protecting Mr Kumar, said: “We are looking into it and will take action against the culprits. We’re also probing the role of local police.”

‘We are solemnising your wedding only. Which mountain is being placed on your head?’