Love has more colors in India, more than rainbow. A girl falls in love with a neighbor and after two years both agree to marry but with a rider. The groom would be wants cash dowry of Rs.50000/- ($1250) from the girl’s father for starting a business. The girl’s father is a poor man and cannot pay and the marriage falls through. The girl refuses to relent and a full-scale story develops.
Ashalata Sirkar, 20 and Sanju Roy, 22 of Jamaldaha village in Cooch District had love affairs for two years. But the marriage was not getting solemnized because Sanju needed Rs.50000/- badly for starting a business without which he said he couldn’t sustain future family expenditure.
The father of the girl, Nani Gopal Sirkar, tried to console her daughter saying, “Leave him. We will get a better match for you even without dowry.” But she was adamant. She was silent for a few days. Then she made up her mind.
On Wednesday afternoon (13th August) Ashalata posted herself in front of the house of Sanju Roy and sat there for three days and nights and that too without food and water. She refused to budge in spite of repeated pleading by her father and others. Villagers kept gathering around her and clapping from time to time to boost her morale.
Scared about the escalation of the incident and what may follow, Sanju, who kept himself bolted inside the room so long, ran away from home. However the girl’s perseverance paid off when Sanju returned home on Sunday morning, after intervention from a Block Development Officer (BDO), and agreed to the marriage without dowry.
A month’s notice is required in India for a court marriage under Special Marriage Act. Before that couples need to sign papers giving their consent to the marriage. The couple signed the papers in presence of Subhasis Ghose, the BDO of Mekhligunge, Gopal Roy, the Panchayat Pradhan of Jamaldaha and scores of villagers.
After signing the papers Sanju said, “ I made a mistake. It is not proper to demand dowry for marriage and it is against law.” The father of the boy Kalipada Roy said, “Let bygones be bygones. Allow us to forget what happened in the past. We would be staging a big wedding ceremony soon.”
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