Police in Uttar Pradesh have begun looking for a man and his father, who called off a wedding at the last minute demanding Rs 65 lakh in dowry from the girl’s parents. They later cooked up a story accusing the girl of spending ‘too much time on WhatsApp’ to justify their decision to call off the wedding.
Urooj Mehndi, the bride’s father, said that the groom, Qamar Haidar, allegedly refused to marry his daughter alleging that she spent ‘too much time on WhatsApp.’ “Later, when we pleaded, they agreed to the nikah but demanded a dowry of Rs. 65 lakh,” Mehndi told ANI.
Speaking to Janta Ka Reporter, Viresh Choudhary, the SHO of Naugawan Sadat police station in Amroha district, confirmed that the Haider’s family had indeed demanded a dowry of Rs 65 lakh and there was no truth in the ‘WhatsApp’ story being floated.
He said, “The decision to call off the wedding is linked to dowry and not WhatsApp. The wedding was called off because the groom’s family was demanding Rs 65 lakh in dowry. They are trying to hide behind the WhatsApp story.”
Choudhary added that the cops had not been able to arrest the alleged culprits even though they had registered a case against the groom and his father. “Both are absconding. The incident took place on 5 September in Naugawan Sadat village,” he added.
Both the families are said to be wealthy and own quite a lot of land, said Choudhary.
Dowry has become a real menace in India with thousands of deaths being reported every year. In 2018 alone, 1,498 women were murdered by their in-laws, compared to 1,449 in 2017 and 1,518 in 2016.