PUNE: A marketing professional and a doctor got married in Pune on Saturday amid the lockdown for the novel coronavirus outbreak in the presence of police personnel, with an officer and his wife playing father and mother to carry out the 'kanyadaan' ritual.
Marketing professional Aditya Bisht and doctor Neha Kushwaha were scheduled to get married on May 2 in Dehradun in Uttarakhand but the plan went awry due to the virus outbreak and resultant lockdown.
Parents of Bisht and Kushwaha took part in the Pune wedding from Nagpur and Dehradun through video calls, an official said.
"Last month Aditya's father Devendra Bisht called up the Pune police control room to get information on whether the couple can go to Dehradun during the lockdown.
He got my number as I am the nodal officer for Hadapsar police station," Assistant Police Inspector Prasad Lonare said.
"When we told him movement during lockdown for this purpose was not possible, Devendra Bisht asked us if police could help them get married here. I spoke to my seniors who gave permission. We helped with all arrangements for the wedding at a hall here, and a colleague Manoj Patil and his wife gave away the bride as per marriage rituals. The parents joined through a video call from Nagpur and Dehradun," he added.
Bisht's father is a retired Army colonel while Neha's father retired as a doctor from the Armed Forces Medical College and is currently in the frontline in AIIMS Nagpur fighting the COVID-19 outbreak.
"We got engaged in February and were supposed to get married on May 2 in Dehradun. But the lockdown put paid to all the plans. However, the help API Lonare and his team extended was unimaginable. We will always be grateful to them," Aditya told PTI.