An Indian court has annulled the marriage of a soldier who 10 years ago was kidnapped and forced to marry a woman at gunpoint in Bihar state, where men are often abducted and forced to wed.
Ravi Kant, an Indian army soldier from Nawada district in the state, was praying at a temple when he was abducted by the members of the bride’s family in 2013 in a case of pakadua byah, or forced marriage.
The tradition is prevalent in several parts of the state where eligible bachelors are abducted and forced to marry women whose families cannot afford expensive dowries.
The practice of dowry is outlawed, but Indian weddings are still often marred by the enormous social pressure on the bride’s family to spend vast sums of money to fulfil demands of the groom’s family that range from cars and gold to cash.
Mr Kant was forced to enter the marriage but had fled the bride’s house without consummating the marriage and resumed his duties in Jammu and Kashmir.
He later approached a family court seeking an annulment of marriage, but his petition was dismissed in 2020.
He then appealed before the Patna High Court, which on November 10 set aside a three-year-old judgment of the family court and passed a decree in his favour.
"The petitioner has explained the situation and there is no undue delay," a two-judge bench said.
The court also noted that not all the Hindu rituals for a wedding were performed and the marriage was therefore invalid.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
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