When a marriage ends abruptly

Wedding in the evening and divorce by the next morning! This sounds incredulous but it is not. It happened in a village of Bijnor district under Uttar Pradesh, India. The crux of the matter was an alleged theft by relatives of the groom and subsequent intern of the entire wedding entourage including the bridegroom. Only in the morning could the groom be freed, courtesy of police intervention.
Now the enraged groom divorced the girl at once on his release and left. This is how the wedding ended on a sad note instead of in happiness. The charge of theft of Rs1.45 lakh along with ornaments levelled against the wedding party accompanying the groom is certainly very serious.
What made the bride's near and dear ones to accuse the groom's nephew and a woman of the theft is important. It is not known if the accused duo had left the scene immediately after the incident or they too were taken captive. If they were still present there, the money and ornament had to be in their possession. Mere suspicion cannot bring such serious charges against newly acquired relations.
Sure enough, the amount of money is big enough for a family in a rural setting in the sub-continent. How much ornament was stolen is not reported. But given the high price of gold (assuming that it was gold ornament), the total value is quite substantial. Yet it does not justify accusation of new relatives of theft unless there is irrefutable proof.
And the hosts in this case went a league further by confining both groom and his father along with others in a humiliating condition. It was indeed a disgrace for the groom. Unless someone informed the police of the incident, more humiliation perhaps awaited them. This is enough to break the nuptial tie and relations with the bridal side.
Clearly, money is a spoiler here. When two young souls were dreaming of a rosy future together, something unwarranted struck from nowhere to spoil the party. It could be a journey together but now the ugly end to the union will definitely weigh on both the groom's and bride's souls. There are stories where a girl in similar situation would not have any chance of getting married again. She would end up as an unhappy and accursed soul in her parents' home.
Happily no more. Today's generation does not subscribe to superstition concerning the girl that she would bring ill luck for her husband and his family from a second wedlock. It is generally considered an accident. But you never know. There are small pockets in Indian society and elsewhere where an incident like this is seen as a bad omen and the girl is held blameable. All because girls and women are weaker and vulnerable to insensible social attitudes.
Incidents like this do not happen every other day. But contentious editions with a difference cannot be ruled out. The core element may either be money, false pride or hubris in some cases. Break-up of marriages can take place for several reasons. But dissolution of just concluded marriage is rare. Although, there are plenty of instances when the wedding party leaves before solemnisation of marriage on matters of dowry or similar other contentious matters.
Usually wedding in this part of the world is an elaborate process and something not up to the mark may spoil the entire thing. In arranged marriages alone such hiccups are expected but in marriages where the bride and groom choose their conjugal life, such unwanted situation is least expected. Usually, they register their marriage with the court. If parents also accept the marriage, well and good; if not the couple have their friends to support them and go ahead with tying the knot. But something surely misses from such unions.
At the beginning of a journey together, a couple certainly crave for blessings from their elders. When the elders turn their back, it is not very amusing -least of all when they wrangle over material possession.