A young man in India was allegedly kidnapped and made to marry at gunpoint.
The Engineer, Vinod Kumar, was forced to go through with a wedding by his bride’s family, police in the eastern state of Bihar said on Friday.
The Police investigation was prompted following video footage apparently showing Kumar being forced to get married.
In Bihar it is not unusual for forced marriages to occur, they are a way for poor families who cannot afford a dowry to get the unions of their choice. It is called Pakadua Vivah meaning forced marriage.
The video which is currently circulating on social media shows the young groom being treated roughly while he cries for freedom and being forced to dress for the wedding.
One man shouts “We are only performing your wedding, not hanging you,”
Another footage shows him crying beside his bride to be while being consoled by another woman likely an in-law.
a local officer Lalan Mohan Prasad, revealed to tabloids that police had contacted Kumar and offered their help but he had not responded.
Indian media revealed Kumar had alleged that “One of the bride’s relatives had pointed a pistol at him after they met at a mutual friend’s wedding and ordered him to marry her.”
Kumar is reported to have escaped to his hometown in the nearby Jharkhand state.
Bihar reputation boasts lawlessness and gang violence, with families alleged to enlist organised criminals to help them carry out abductions and forced marriages.
Saibal Gupta a Local social scientist stated “such marriages enjoyed widespread acceptance and tended to endure, given the stigma of divorce.
The frequency of such kidnappings has come down, but certainly not stopped. Poverty is still rampant.”
There were nearly 3,000 complaints of groom kidnapping in 2016. None of the marriages were annulled according to police records.