PATNA: In a shocking display of anger over an inter-caste marriage, a family in Purnia allegedly performed the symbolic funeral of their 18-year-old daughter after she eloped with her boyfriend and married him in court.The family prepared an effigy carrying her photograph, took out a funeral procession through the locality and performed symbolic last rites after the woman admitted in a local court that she had married the man of her choice.The incident took place at Chapay village in the Town police station area of Purnia on Tuesday.Riya, a Part-I college student allegedly eloped with 24-year-old Minal Kumar on September 8 and married him in a court.Her father, Manoj Kumar Goswami, had subsequently approached Maranga police and filed a missing complaint, fearing that his daughter had been abducted.According to villagers, Riya and Minal had been in a relationship for around three years. Their houses are reportedly only about 100metres apart.The two initially saw each other while Riya travelled to college and gradually began meeting and talking.Two days ago, police reportedly recovered Riya from Delhi and produced her before court, where her statement was recorded.When she reportedly spoke in favour of Minal and said she had married him voluntarily, her father was deeply upset. He then decided to symbolically end his relationship with his daughter through a funeral ceremony.By Monday night, preparations for the unusual ceremony had begun.According to the villagers, the family made an effigy of Riya and prepared a poster carrying her photograph. Villagers were invited the next morning to participate in the procession.The effigy was then carried out from the house on a bier in a funeral procession through the village. People reportedly raised the Hindu funeral chant “Ram Naam Satya Hai”, before Manoj performed the symbolic cremation.The family also said it intends to perform rituals associated with death, including shraddha and pind-daan between the 10th and 13th days.Manoj said the family had already arranged Riya’s marriage with a man from Bhagalpur who works as a government teacher. According to him, the match had been finalised for Rs 6 lakh and the wedding was scheduled for November.“We had started preparing for the marriage. In the meantime, my daughter ran away and married of her own choice. Now what will I tell the other family? How will I face them?” he said.Expressing his anguish, Manoj added, “I educated my daughter, brought her up and she has left us with our heads bowed. May God ensure that no one gets a daughter like this. We are no longer in a position to show our faces to anyone.”The family has now said that Riya is “dead” to them and that they will have no relationship with her.Villager Awadhesh Kumar said members of the community had previously attempted to resolve the dispute.Both sides were reportedly called to a meeting and asked to settle the matter socially.“We had held a meeting earlier and called both sides. We told them to come to a social-level solution. We asked them to live as they had earlier and separate the two, but that did not happen,” Awadhesh said.He added that the community wanted young girls to understand what could happen if they took such a step.
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