MADURAI: Hoping for a ‘marriage made in heaven’ setup, or at least a good deal near to it, a big fat wedding was held in the Madurai skies on Sunday. This couple tied the knot exactly when their chartered aircraft hovered over the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple in the ‘graceful’ presence of a whopping 161 relatives in the flight, sources said.
The ‘extravagant’ ceremony, held in blatant violation of the Covid protocol, comes at a time when the State is weighed down by the viral caseload.
Moreover, glossing over a grave situation, where hospitals are overcrowded and healthcare workers are overworked, the wedding ceremony boasted of an inflated guest-list, far exceeding the state government’s stipulated 50 for such gatherings.
Sources said that the ‘marriage flight’ took off from Madurai International Airport at 7 am on Sunday. “The flight was air-bound for two hours and the couple tied the knot when the aircraft was hovering over the Meenakshi Amman temple,” they said, adding that the photographs of the function reveal that those who attended the mid-air marriage did not even wear their masks properly, and worse, had no social distancing etiquette.
The marriage photos that are being circulated in the social media received mixed feedback from netizens.
Airline service told to provide explanation
A few opined that there is no need for such a large gathering at the time of the second wave.
Superintendent of Police Sujith Kumar said that they are yet to take a decision on whether a case should be registered in the city or rural limits as it’s a “peculiar violation”.
Airport Director S Senthil Valavan said that the private airline had applied for the charter flight service and the airport authorities had approved it.
“The authorities from the airport were not aware of the mid-air marriage. There is a clear violation of Covid precautionary norms,” he said, adding that he had directed the airline service to give an explanation by Monday. Collector said that an inquiry is underway and appropriate action would be initiated.