In a disturbing incident, the sister of a bride in India was made to marry the groom after the bride collapsed and died in the middle of her wedding ceremony.
The incident occurred in the Indian state of Uttar Pardesh where Surabhi was tying the knot with local resident Manoj Kumar. The bride suffered a heart attack.
A doctor from the local village was called to the scene but was unable to save her.
But rather than call a halt to proceedings, families of both parties agreed to continue with the wedding ceremony by replacing the bride with her sister, Nisha. Surbhi’s body was kept in a separate room while the festivities took place and she was later cremated.
One of Surbhi’s uncles, Ajab Singh, said it was a ‘tough call’ for the family to carry on with the wedding.
Several factors could explain the families’ decision.
The bride’s family would likely have been expecting a dowry, while the groom’s would have wanted to avoid the stigma of returning from a wedding without a bride.
The bride’s mother, Guddi Devi, made an emotional appeal for the wedding to go ahead. She is now being taken care of by her son Gaurav following the incident.
