Runaway Surat couple elope again

The to-be bride’s mother and to-be groom’s father had eloped to Ujjain ahead of their children’s wedding to rekindle their teenage romance. Hit by remorse, they returned after 16 days. After woman’s husband shunned her, the couple eloped again

The runaway Surat couple - to-be groom's father and to-be bride's mother - who eloped before their children were to tie knot on February 14, only to return later under 'societal pressure', have once again eloped.

After they ran away again on February 29, Gaurav and Shalini (names changed) are staying together as a couple in Surat's Varachha area. Even after returning from Ujjain, where the two stayed together for 16 days before the remorse of ruining their children's lives hit them, the two were in touch over phone.

How it all started

Once teenage sweethearts, textile trader Gaurav (48) and Shalini (46) buried their love when Shalini's father rejected him because he was poor, and they got married to separate people.

A year-and-a-half ago, the two met unexpectedly at a social function of the Prajapati community and rekindled their friendship.

During one of their chats, Gaurav, who has two daughters and a son, and Shalini, who lived in Navsari with her husband, daughter and son, decided to bring together his son and her daughter in matrimony.

"It was an opportunity to bind our love. We wanted our children to flourish in the love we could not achieve," said Gaurav who approached Shalini's husband with the proposal through a common friend. The families agreed to the match and the wedding was scheduled for February 14 this year.

Shalini's husband got suspicious of her closeness to Gaurav and warned her that he would break their daughter's engagement. "Hence, we decided to elope," Gaurav told Mirror.


On January 10, Gaurav rode his friend's motorcycle to Navsari and picked Shalini. He was carrying Rs 45,000, wearing a shirt gifted by Shalini while she wore a saree he had gifted her. "She took nothing from her home; neither clothes nor jewellery. We bought clothes from the money I carried," he said.

The couple then drove to Dahod from where they took a bus to Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. Their plan was to eventually settle in Rajkot or Surat. However, the two were gripped by unbearable guilt of having abandoned their children and families.

"Shalini felt she had wronged her children and loved them too much. She realised she still had feelings for her husband. I could not forget my kids either. We made a pact to end our lives either by throwing ourselves before a train or consuming poison. If we could not live together, we decided to die together," said Gaurav.

Once in Ujjain, Shalini called her husband on January 22. "She told him she wanted to return. He told her that he loved her, and all would be forgiven if she returns. When she called again the next day, her brother-in-law picked the call and told her that they never wished to see her again. She was shattered. She asked me if I would keep her if her husband rejected her. I said yes, and we decided to return," Gaurav said.


The couple returned to their families on January 25. While Gaurav's wife and family accepted him back, Shalini's husband came to the police station, where he had filed a missing person's complaint on January 11. Navsari SP Girish Pandya said, "The woman's husband told us he was not prepared to accept her back. So, her father took her home to Surat."

At the time, Shalini's father had said, "My daughter is heartbroken and depressed. She is unwilling to talk to anyone. She knows she has made a mistake and takes responsibility for her action. She just wants to go back to her husband and family."

Gaurav, too, had pleaded with Shalini's husband to forgive her and take her back in his life. When Mirror had asked him what he would do if Shalini's husband did not forgive her, he had said, "I will keep her as promised. I know I will have problems with my family, my wife. But I will somehow convince my wife and keep her in another home. I cannot abandon her."