KANPUR: A groom hid his caste for marriage but was shown the door by the would-be bride at the marriage function. As the wedding party readied to return empty-handed, a guest offered to get his son married to the girl. A ‘panchayat’ was called and the girl’s family accepted the proposal and the marriage was solemnized.

The incident took place in Sargaon Buzurg of Kanpur Dehat. Barati Sharma of Sargaon Buzurg had fixed the marriage of his daughter with one Pradeep. However, when the marriage party arrived on Wednesday night, the girl’s father was told that the groom did not belong to their caste ‘Badhai’ ( carpenter ) and was actually a ‘lohar’ by caste. The information shocked the family members.

When the girl came to know about the development, she outrightly refused to marry the groom.

The bride’s family accused the groom and his family of keeping them in dark about their caste. “When the marriage proposal was finalised, we were told that groom’s side is from the same caste. But, a relative of mine told that the groom was a ‘lohar’. Celebrations were on at our place and nearly all my relatives had come to participate in the function,” said Barati Sharma.

Bride’s family members alleged that they had fixed the marriage only after being informed that ‘groom’ belonged to their caste, i.e, ‘Badhai’ (carpenter). Devastated over the development, Barati Sharma spread the word that he was ready to marry off his daughter to any guest of the same caste. Later, a guest came forward and offered to marry his son to the girl. A ‘panchayat’ was called at the marriage function and later girl’s family consented to the proposal. “Incidentally, the boy too was named Pradeep.

The girl too agreed to take ‘saat pheras’ with him,” said Barati Sharma.

As the marriage was being solemnized, police arrived on the scene along with a few locals. A few of them tried to work out a compromise between the two parties. However, the girl refused to budge from her stand, forcing the police to allow her to go to place of her family’s choice.

The first groom and his party returned ‘empty-handed’. A police official said, “The girl has married another youth, who is a namesake of her would-be groom with whom she was earlier engaged.”

