BHOPAL: It’s not only strict enforcement of ongoing lockdown which is keeping the cops busy in Madhya Pradesh. The men and women in khaki are also helping lovebirds to tie the knot in the central Indian state.
A young police sub-inspector Anjali Agnihotri recently donned the role of a priest to solemnize the marriage of a couple in the want of the full-time priest at a temple in Narsinghpur district.
Four days back, the bride Ritu and groom Lakshman reached the Shiv-Parwati temple in the Jhoteshwar area in the district for their arranged marriage following permission from authorities. Five relatives on each side were permitted by the administration for witnessing the wedlock.
But the solemnization of the marriage hit a roadblock as the temple was closed and there was no temple priest present to render the rituals and Vedic shlokas for the marriage.
The woman sub-inspector Anjali Agnihotri, who was tasked with ensuring social distancing at the marriage, ultimately turned the savior for the bride and groom.
“Both the groom and bride’s kin requested me to don the role of the priest outside the temple as I’m a Brahmin. But not fully knowing the shlokas and rituals necessary for the wedlock, I took the help of Google and managed to find the rituals and shlokas. Subsequently, I turned the makeshift priest for bride and groom and ultimately managed to solemnize the wedlock while being in the official uniform only,” the sub-inspector said.
A day later, Yuvraj Singh Chauhan, in-charge of Naugaon police station in Dhar district, got the marriage of another couple solemnized outside the police station.
Chauhan said their move came after the bride Poonam Bagri and the groom Kapil, who were slated to be married on April 15, could not do so due to the lockdown.
“On the night of May 2, Poonam left her house to marry Kapil but was stopped by the Naugaon police at a checking point. On coming to know about her desperation to marry Kapil, both families were called to the police station the next morning. We subsequently got the marriage solemnized in the presence of two members each from both families. The marriage happened with the bride and groom exchanging floral garlands with the help of a wooden stick to ensure proper social distancing even during the Jaimal ceremony,” Chauhan recounted.