PATNA: The young Bihar engineer who was forced to marry a girl after being allegedly abducted by her family last month in what appeared to be an instance of “pakdua shadi” moved court on Monday seeking criminal proceedings against the girl’s family.
Vinod Kumar filed a petition in the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) in Barh and urged the court to initiate criminal proceedings against the the family member’s of the girl, especially her elder brother Surendra Yadav, for abducting him and then forcing him to marry her on December 3.
Kumar, 29, who works as a junior engineer at Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP) in Jharkhand’s Bokaro, said in the petition that his wedding with Kundan Kumari was conducted at gunpoint at her house in Gopekita village under Pandarak police station.
A video clip showing Kumar being forced to marry the girl went viral on social media on January 2 and drew national and international attention on what many described as the return of Bihar’s old tradition of “pakdua shadi” (forced weddings after abduction).
In the video clip, the engineer was seen protesting and crying during his forced wedding. When he refuses to put vermillion on the girl’s forehead, her relatives are heard saying: “Are you being hanged? We are solemnising your wedding only” and “Why are you worried? Which mountain is being placed on your head?”
Vinod Kumar alleged that he was abducted by a band of masked, gun-toting men from Mokama when he was on his way to a friend’s house on December 2. He was brought to an undisclosed location in a Scorpio car and forced to marry Surendra Yadav’s sister at his house the next day, he alleged.
In his petition, Kumar urged the judge to award exemplary punishment to the culprits so that “evil and heinous practice like this” does not recur.
“We want justice. Police in Bihar have been unhelpful. We want the practice of such weddings to end. We have also approached National Human Rights Commission and other relevant fora in New Delhi,” said his elder brother, Awadesh Kumar.
Surendra Yadav, however, rubbished the charges of abduction and forced marriage. “I knew Vinod’s father and helped him financially when he was ill. He had agreed for this wedding, but after his death his sons backtracked and demanded dowry,” he said, adding that his sister has also approached National Commission for Women (NCW) over “her husband’s smear campaign”.
The incident, coming at a time when the Bihar government is organising a statewide campaign against dowry, has brought the focus back on the forgotten tradition of “pakadua shadi”. In the 1980s and 1990s, when the practice of dowry was at its peak in Bihar, there were many incidents of eligible bachelors getting abducted and forced into marriage. Such weddings still take place in the state’s southern districts off and on.