Young couple out on a date in Varanasi park gets married, thanks to police

A young couple out on a date in a village orchard ended up marrying each other within a few hours, with unsolicited help from police and in the presence of their relatives and other villagers on Wednesday. The scene played out in Badaura village of Varanasi.

Yugal Bihari Prajapati, 25, and Reena Prajapati, 23, were spotted by locals who accused them of obscenity and rang the police. The duo was taken to the police station where they said they had been in a relationship for two years and planned to marry in March. Police, though, decided to get them married off the same day at a nearby temple.

“They were sitting in the garden when locals informed us. A police team brought them to the station. They told us they wanted to marry, so we arranged their marriage with their parents’ consent,” said Jansa station in-charge Anil Kumar Singh.

Village head Shivprakash Singh, who persuaded the couple’s parents to agree to the swift wedding, said, “The parents of the bride gave Rs 1 as ‘shagun’ (auspicious amount) to the man’s kin.”

Police personnel made all arrangements for the ceremony, he added. Anil Singh said, “It was a dowry-free marriage. The couple left happily for their home.”

For the couple, though, the feeling is yet to sink in. Yugal, who works for a private company in Mumbai, told HT, “I had never imagined I would get married in such a manner. What is interesting is that police made the arrangements for my marriage. The love of my life is with me and I will take her to Mumbai.”