Khargone: Groom relocates to save his engagement

Khargone (Madhya Pradesh): Communal violence affects social harmony and peace which is a given but recent clashes in Khargone city in Madhya Pradesh have also impacted the marriage plans of some youngsters while a prospective groom has shifted out from a troubled area to save his engagement. Khargone continues to be under curfew since communal clashes broke out on Ram Navami on April 10.

Aman Verma's family members had been preparing for the last four months to make his marriage a grand event but they are now forced to perform the ritual after securing permission from the police and in the presence of a few relatives, devoid of pomp and revelry.

On Sunday morning, Verma's marriage party left for Kasrawad, the hometown of his bride, some 35 kilometres from Khargone town. Additional collector Sumer Singh Mujalde said special permission was given to this marriage party to leave during the relaxation of curfew on Sunday morning.

Since Thursday, the administration has been relaxing the curfew in Khargone city every day for four hours in intervals of two hours each. On Sunday, the curfew was relaxed from 8 am to 12 noon to allow people to buy essential items and carry out necessary work.

But what is a marriage without a band and 'baraatis'? Aman's sister said they had booked a DJ band for Aman's marriage (on Sunday) but now they are compelled to perform the rituals in the presence of a few close relatives on the fixed date.

24-year-old Aman, a resident of the Talab Chowk area, said that most of his relatives could not reach Khargone due to the curfew. Talab Chowk is one of the worst-hit areas of the Ram Navami violence.

For Shekhar Patil, the fallout of the violence is threatening his prospective marriage, forcing him to relocate from the Sanjay Nagar locality to Motipura. The marriage of Patil, an electrician by profession and a resident of Sanjay Nagar, was fixed some four years back.

However, he is now worried as the girl's family is having second thoughts about marrying off their daughter to him due to his area of residence. During the clashes on Sunday, Khargone superintendent of police Siddharth Choudhary had sustained a bullet injury to his leg in the Sanjay Nagar area. Patil said that he has now shifted to rented accommodation in the Motipura area to save this relationship.

"My family is trying to sell the house due to repeated violence in Sanjay Nagar but are not finding a buyer," he rued.

Patil's neighbour Rahul Kumawat said his sister's marriage is scheduled to take place during a mass marriage ceremony on May 3 but he had to shift from Sanjay Nagar to another locality after the violence.

He is now making arrangements to accommodate his relatives in a lodge and a dharmshala. Kumawat said that he has promised his in-laws to shift to another place after his sister's marriage.

Vivek Joshi, who works as a district cooperative bank manager, said that he decided to change the venue of his son's marriage to Sanawad town, some 68 km away from Khargone.

On the other hand, Altaf Azad, a Muslim community leader, said that the marriage season in his community will start after the Eid festival next month.

"If the situation does not improve, then marriages in his community will have to be postponed because all the preparations are to be done in April itself," he said.

Meanwhile, Khargone collector Anugraha P has visited the violence-hit areas in the city and assured the victims that the state government will soon start the restoration of their houses after carrying out a survey.