India's horrific "burning bride" wedding custom

In the Bihar region of India, due to the increasing amount of dowry and betrothal money demanded by men when getting married, many poor Indian parents cannot afford this huge amount of dowry money. Seeing that their hard-raised daughters cannot get married, the fathers and brothers of some Indian brides took the risk and quietly hired local underworld elements to kidnap some single men, and used sticks to force them to hold a traditional Indian wedding with their daughters.

In Bihar, India, if you are an unmarried young bachelor, it will definitely be an "adventure" if you go out at night without authorization.

According to Bihar government officials, due to the increasing price of betrothal gifts for Indian men when they get married, many poor Indian parents simply cannot afford this huge amount of marriage money. They simply "cooperate" with local underworld elements and spend money to hire kidnappers to kidnap the single man they have found to be their daughter's groom.

Nowadays, at night, these Indian kidnappers, known as "groom contractors", start to carry out activities, looking for targets everywhere.

According to government officials in Bihar, a large number of single men are kidnapped every year in the Gaya City, Dabanha and Punia regions of Bihar.

These kidnapped grooms will be subjected to several days of inhuman torture. After being beaten to pieces and unconscious, these men will marry a woman they have never met in accordance with traditional Indian customs. According to Indian custom, once such a wedding is held, locals will recognize them as a formal couple.

Suhashi Kumar is a bank clerk in Patna, the capital of Bihar. He is a talented young man. However, one night, while going out alone late at night, he was suddenly kidnapped by underworld kidnappers. He was handcuffed to a bed in a dark room and starved for days. Whenever he begged his kidnappers to let him go, he would be beaten up. Later, he was taken to a house, but he continued to be beaten. Later, he learned that the people who beat him included his future "father-in-law" and "brother-in-law". Sometimes, even the women in the family would come on stage with brooms and slippers and beat him in the face.

Four days later, Kumar, who was tied with ropes, married a girl he had never met under the threat of a stick. Even at the wedding, Kumar's wrist was tightly tied with a rope to prevent him from suddenly running away at the wedding and embarrassing the bride's family.

In those hellish dark days, the only thing Kumar thought was that this nightmare could end as soon as possible, even if he married a woman he didn't know. The day after the wedding, a sullen-looking Kumar took his new wife home. When he left, he secretly vowed to retaliate against his brother-in-law's family in the future.

However, like thousands of grooms in Bihar who have suffered similar experiences, Kumar is always worried about retaliation from underworld kidnappers. Not wanting to be harassed more by the kidnappers, Kumar finally "confessed his life" and finally silently accepted the forced marriage.

According to reports, Indian middle-class single men are the most likely targets for kidnappers, and government employees are also popular, followed by doctors, businessmen and company managers.

Although the practice of asking for betrothal gifts at marriage is prohibited by Indian law, asking for huge betrothal gifts is a common phenomenon in Bihar. The bride's parents often also pay the groom's parents for his son's education. After the bride marries, she has to bring a large amount of dowry such as daily necessities, electronics, jewelry, etc. for her husband and family.

If the bride cannot meet the groom's family's requirements, she will be abused. Sometimes, they will even be forcibly put on a nylon sari soaked in flammable paraffin and burned alive. In the 1980s, due to the frequent tragic incidents of brides being burned to death in India, some activists who opposed bad wedding ceremonies strongly urged the government to amend the law.

The revised Indian law stipulates that if a bride is burned to death within seven years, it will be considered an unnatural death, and their husbands and parents-in-law will be charged with murder.

According to official statistics, from 1998 to 1999, there were at least 12612 dowry deaths in India, most of which occurred in Bihar and neighboring Uttar Pradesh.

However, anti-wedding customs and some non-governmental organizations believe that the actual death toll is much higher than officially announced. They estimate that a bride is burned to death every 10 minutes in India.

Partnering with gangs to snatch the bridegroom and burning the unwanted bride to death is an Indian custom that is unheard of and amazing. It is said that Indian women have no status, but they will not be burned alive. After all, it is a human life! It is hoped that the status of Indian women will be improved to prevent the tragedy from happening again.