When twenty-four-year old Dadri resident Manjeet Bhati eloped in October last with Salma, a Muslim girl he fell in love with, he had not imagined that gaining social acceptance will be far easier than getting their marriage registered.
The couple from Chitehra village were married in an Arya Samaj temple. Six months on, the Dadri administration has still not registered the marriage apprehending communal tension in the region which is simmering since Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched over rumours of eating beef late last year.
Mr. Bhati’s story unfolded days after an inter-religious couple were married in Karnataka with the complete support of the police, amid threats by Hindutva groups.
Mr. Bhati told The Hindu that he has been going from one office to another to register his marriage. When he received no support from senior administrative officials of Dadri, he was forced to write to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav seeking his intervention.
“I was shocked when the registrar told us that we cannot marry because I am a Hindu and my wife is a Muslim. We were told that the law and order situation in Dadri is not favourable and the news of our wedding might lead to communal riots,” he told The Hindu on the phone from Dadri.
“Our wedding is our personal affair. I fail to understand how it can become a law and order problem.”
Interestingly, the residents of Chitehra village from where the couple hails do not have any problem with the wedding as Salma has converted and become Sapna. The District Magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar N.P. Singh told The Hindu that the wedding would be registered very soon.
