In an unfortunate series of events, a woman died of a heart attack during her wedding ceremony in India’s Uttar Pradesh. With her body lying in the next room, the groom then married her younger sister the same day.
The incident took place when a bride named Surabhi and a groom named Mangesh Kumar were exchanging flower garlands during the traditional Jaimala Ceremony on May 27, The Times of India reported.
According to the report, a doctor rushed to the place but declared Surabhi dead due to a heart attack.
The grieving family members told the media that Surabhi collapsed on the wedding stage at the start of the ceremony.
“We did not know what to do in the situation,” Surabhi’s brother Saurabh said while talking to the media. “Both the families sat together, and someone suggested that my younger sister Nisha should be married to the groom. The families discussed the matter, and both agreed.”
Afterward, the nuptials carried on with Nisha, replacing her dead sister whose body was lying in another room.
“It was a tough call for our family,” the bride’s uncle Ajab Singh said. “One daughter lay dead in one room and the wedding of another daughter was being solemnized in the other room.”
“We have never witnessed such mixed emotions. The grief over her death and the happiness of the wedding have yet to sink in,” he said.
After completing the Mangesh and Nisha’s nuptials, the families performed Surabhi’s last rites.
However, arranged marriage is not something new in India. According to US News and World Report, more than 90 percent of marriages in India are arranged.
While talking with USA Today, Radha Patel, the founder of the famous matchmaking site ‘Single to Shaadi,’ said it’s likely the families arranged for the sister to marry the groom because “they wanted to keep it in the family.”
She also revealed that her mother was in a similar situation when her aunt died in childbirth and someone floated the idea that her mother marry her brother-in-law.
“So much vetting goes into matching families in marriages, and it is natural for the families to want to stay together,” Patel said.
She added that her mother was unmarried and young, but her parents accepted her refusal of the idea.
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