KOLKATA: The wedding of Nikhil, the grandson of former Indian Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda raised a huge nationwide controversy. Son of the former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Nikhil got married at the family farmhouse near Bengaluru.
Sounak Das, a youth of Sreerampore, Hooghly district in West Bengal, searched the internet to get the numbers of the Union Home Ministry (UHM) and asked whether he can marry too during this period.
After a UHM official clarified that there was no harm provided he informs the local police, which Sounak had already done, he discussed the matter with the local officials on Thursday.
On Saturday, he left for Singur, 15 km away, with only his father and a priest as the only persons in the Barat party. On the bride’s side, only her father, mother and a priest were present. Both sides had already given notice of their marriage through the registrar of marriage.
On Thursday, another similar marriage took place at a family temple at Kharagpur, East Midnapore district. Sourav Karmakar and bride Swati from neighbouring Jhargram tied knots in the presence of 15 people. There was no marriage feast. Instead, the Karmakar family decided to feed the poor as an alternative.
All the rituals were held by observing the social distancing rules and with the bridegroom, bride, priest and other wearing masks. But questions have arisen whether marriages held during the lockdown were legal or not.
According to Jayanta Mitra, all the marriage certificates carry the date of the notice, marriage day as well as the date on which the notice was issued. Mitra felt that the marriage certificate given during the lockdown period is liable to be treated as illegal. He had already written to the registrar general in this regard.
The death in West Bengal rose to 12 on Saturday. Twenty-three people were infected by the deadly virus that has killed almost 1.6 lakh people globally. Seven patients cured of the virus were released from hospitals on Saturday. There are 3,858 people in government quarantine and 35,209 in home isolation.
In Howrah, which is a red zone, 580 people were tested for coronavirus with 62 found to have been infected. So far, 215 people were arrested in Howrah for violating the lockdown rules.
