Woman attends father’s funeral hours after her wedding

A woman attended the funeral of her father, who was allegedly gunned down by a villager, hours after she tied the nuptial knot at Pashpipara in Bihar’s Kaimur district on Wednesday.

“My father was killed while he was fasting for my kanyadaan (a wedding ritual). My husband and I attended his funeral in our wedding attire,” said the woman, identified only as Rubi.

By doing this, Rubi broke an age-old practice in the country. Hindu traditions forbid newly weds from participating in cremations and other post-death rituals for a year after their marriage.

Rubi’s father, 42-year-old Ram Raj Ram, was making arrangements for the wedding when he was allegedly shot by the accused, Mangaru alias Sanjay. He was rushed to the government hospital at Mohania soon after the incident, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Ram, a Dalit, was the sole provider of his family of seven – which includes his wife, three daughters and two sons.

The bride agreed to go ahead with the wedding at the insistence of the bridegroom’s family and other villagers. The newly weds attended Ram’s funeral after the ceremony at a neighbourhood temple.

Police said Mangaru was the main accused in several kidnapping and murder cases across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. He was recently released from Varanasi jail after serving 12 years in a murder case.

An FIR lodged by the deceased’s wife stated that Mangaru had threatened to kill Ram after a quarrel in January. “We are conducting raids to arrest him,” said Mohania sub-divisional police officer Raghunath Singh.

This is the eighth murder to be committed in Kaimur district over the last 10 days.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times