INDORE: Sporting a beard nearly cost a groom his marriage in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh after the bride’s family objected to his stubble and refused to marry off the girl till he comes clean-shaven.The groom resisted to the demand for over 12 hours but conceded following the intervention of police. He shaved off the beard and the marriage was solemnised in Anjati village on Tuesday.The hilarious sequence of event though tickled the funny bones of the guests, the bride’s family was dead serious against marrying off the girl to a bearded man.Mangal Chouhan was in for a surprise on March 12, when he reached his would-be wife’s house decked up in a three-piece suit on a horse. Bride Rupali’s father, Radheshyam Jadhav, stopped the procession and announced, “Everything is in order, but the beard. Shave it off and then we will go ahead with the marriage.”Shocked, Chouhan resisted. His relatives also put their foot down. “How can we allow the bride’s family to bully us?” they announced.As the matter escalated, Moghat Road police rushed to the spot to prevent any flare up. Constable Dharmendra Mandloi, who mediated between the families, told TOI, “Both the families were not agreeing to budge on the beard. After holding long discussions, the groom finally agreed to shave his beard, but announced that he will keep a moustache.”“It was a minor hiccup. My father-in-law wanted me to shave my beard. But now everything is fine. Rupali is also okay with this,” Chouhan told TOI over phone from his native village Junapani.He left with the bride on Wednesday afternoon after the marriage was solemnised at the same venue.“I had to pay Rs 4000 extra to the tent owners to leave the arrangements as it was, overnight,” Jadhav said, claiming he had warned Chouhan of the beard on several occasion before the marriage.“My friends were telling me: how can you get your beautiful daughter married to a man who looked mad due to the beard,” he said, claiming that he did not buckle under the pressure of the groom’s family and stood his ground.Constable Mandloi said the bride’s family had got the couple some gifts. The groom left them behind while taking his bride home, fearing dowry charges after the matter got so much publicity in and around the village.