A wedding procession in Delhi. Credit:Getty Images Celebratory firing is a feature of weddings in rural areas and small towns in the north. Among the guests is usually a small-time politician, or a friend of his, who has managed to procure a licensed gun. Heavy drinking is another feature at weddings. The combination leads to displays of machismo and is proving increasingly fatal. The authorities in the town of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, said six people had been killed and a dozen injured in the past nine months because of celebratory firing. The wedding season is now in full swing in north India and reports of such deaths are common, leaving a bloody trail. "It's drunken men who probably have never held a weapon in their lives but are showing off," said Jagdish Atwal, Kaur's uncle. "Look at the video of Kulwinder's death and you can see from the weird way he's holding it that he hasn't held a gun before. It wasn't his gun we learnt later."

In November, a wedding guest was killed and another four people were injured during 'celebratory firing' in India. Credit:Screegrab Everyone is vulnerable, from guests to caterers, but women dancers are particularly at risk because the men, high on hyper-masculinity and alcohol, think they can paw them and when the dancers protest, try to intimidate them by firing a gun. Binalakshmi Lepram, an anti-gun campaigner and founder of the Control Arms Foundation of India, was quoted in the Indian press as saying that celebratory firing was "a brazen display of power and manhood". Dancer Kulwinder Kaur was killed on stage at a wedding in Punjab, India, this month. Credit:Screengrab/NDTV But the risk of being shot is one that many dancers from poor families are prepared to brave for the sake of the approximately 3000 rupees ($60) they earn for dancing till the early hours.

Kaur was her family's breadwinner, supporting not only her husband but her elderly parents too. Her husband told reporters that she used to diligently watch the latest dances in Bollywood movies so that she could recreate them for wedding guests. An Indian bride helps another with her attire during a mass wedding hosted by a diamond trader in Surat, India, last week. Credit:AP With the right documents, it is relatively easy to buy a gun in India. A policeman in Punjab said it took about three to four months. In other parts of the country, it can take between one and three years. However, with the right connections, this can be fast-tracked. For politicians, guns are a great status symbol. Being surrounded by gun-toting security guards in black (even when there is no threat to their life) is the ultimate marker of a VIP. An underprivileged couple arrive to take part in a mass wedding in Mumbai, India earlier this year. Credit:AP

Those who carry guns at weddings are breaking the law. Carrying a weapon in a public place is banned and the police say it is up to the public to report anyone carrying a gun in public. A Punjab politician who did not wish to be named said celebratory firing was mainly a problem of rural weddings because no one reported the presence of guns. "You see, in towns, you don't invite everyone in the neighbourhood to your wedding," he said. "So if anyone living near a wedding is bothered by loud music after 11pm, or hears gunshots, they will report it to the police. But in the villages, everyone in the village is invited to the wedding and so no one is going to report a guest carrying a gun for fear of offending a neighbour." For Bhatinda Senior Superintendent of Police Swapan Sharma it is not fair to expect the police to monitor every single place, including wedding venues. He said it is for Indians to decide what sort of society they want. "The law bans the carrying of a weapon in a mall, cinemas, wedding venues, parks, restaurants, all public places. It is up to citizens to be aware and alert and report this to the police so that we can act. People have to decide what's important to them," Mr Sharma said. A day after Kaur's death, the government of neighbouring Haryana (where an aunt of the groom was shot dead in celebratory firing last month) reiterated that the carrying of weapons at weddings is an offence.