Man gambles wife in Bihar village

Like the Pandavas in Indian epic "Mahabharata", a man in a Bihar village staked his wife to another villager after he lost his money, land and possessions in gambling.

Umashankar Choudhary of Chaksaid village in Vaishali district gambled his wife, Sunanina Devi, to Manoj Singh of the same village.

"Umashankar gambled his wife when he lost his money, land, gold chain, motorcycle and even his watch in gambling," said Mahavir Pal, a local politician.

The incident occurred last week during Durga Puja festivities.

The victorious Singh demanded that Umashankar's wife be handed over to him.

Soon the news spread in the village and a panchayat meeting was called.

Choudhary was ordered to pay Rs 5,000 to Singh. In turn, "Singh was persuaded by the village elders to forget everything", Pal said.

In another incident, a married woman gambled herself in a game of dice during Durga Puja festivities in a village in Banka district. The victor took her home. Two days later fellow villagers intervened and took the woman back to her husband's house.