Many from Dadri too got remarried at event for gifts

Greater Noida: After at least 10 couples from Cheeti-Nangla villages were found to have remarried for the sake of gifts in a mass wedding organised by district administration on February 24, it is suspected that at least 12 other couples from Bambawad village of Dadri too got remarried in the same function.
Family members of eight of these couples told TOI that they had got married last year but remarried at the function as they were promised gifts worth Rs 35,000 by their village pradhan, Jaswant Singh.

The 12 couples who got enrolled for the wedding are Shahnaz and Nizam, Shammo and Wasim, Gulshan and Talim, Sonia and Sandeep, Rubina and Alim, Afsana and Husan Ali, Hina and Gulzar, Farina and Irfan, Pooja and Anand, Sarita and Arun, Seema and Bijender, Anita and Vishal.

Among them, Shammo is five months pregnant. She along with her younger sister Shahnaz got married on September 16 last year. Shammo’s brother Sameer confirmed that his sisters remarried after persuaded by the pradhan.

“We did as we were told to. We have returned all the gifts to the pradhan three days back,” he said.

Three sisters — Gulshan, Rubina and Afsana — got married together on September 15, 2017. They remarried their husbands on February 24.

“We were told that we will get gifts and money. My father is a labourer and I do odd jobs. We just did what we were told to. We are scared and do not want to get into any trouble,” Dilshad, brother of the three sisters told TOI. Similarly, sisters Hina and Farina who got married together on November 5, remarried their husbands Gulzar and Irfan.

On the other hand, families of four couples claimed that while their names were on the list of those who got married during the mass wedding, they did not go ahead with the said wedding.

Pooja, who got married to Anand of Bhogal in Delhi, said her husband never agreed to the remarriage.

“We were asked by the pradhan to enroll for the wedding. My in-laws never agreed for the same but my parents got influenced as they thought they could recover some cost of my marriage from the mass wedding. My mother-in-law protested saying that photographs can be clicked in the wedding and we cancelled our plan to reach the venue on the day,” she claimed.

Pooja said she did not know whether any gifts were distributed in her name as she did not attend the wedding.

Chief development officer Anil Kumar Singh said while 12 couples had got enrolled, 11 of them turned up for the wedding and did remarry. When asked why these were not verified, he said the ADO and JEMI junior engineer (minor irrogation) who were incharge of the same had verified the couples after the weddings got over.

Jaswant Singh, pradhan of the village, denied that he had kept any gifts claiming that he himself did not know that couples were married already.