NEW DELHI, June 20: He is aware that it may create legal complications under the Hindu Marriage Act but still Sandeep Oraon married both his girlfriends at the same time in a village in Jharkhand’s Lohardaga.
The unusual marriage involving three adults, however, was consensual with neither the women nor their families raising any objections. In fact it was the local panchayat’s decision that he should get married to both the women he loved.
Both the women, Kusum Lakra and Swati Kumari, loved the groom, Sandeep Oraon, and got married to him at the same time in Banda village in Lohardaga’s Bhandra block.
Sandeep and Kusum had been in a live-in relationship for three years. They also have a child together. Their love story took a turn a year ago when Sandeep went to work in a brick kiln in West Bengal.
That’s when Sandeep met Swati Kumari, who had also come to work there. The duo continued to meet even after they returned home. Eventually, their family members and villagers found out about their relationship and started opposing it.
After a series of brawls, the villagers called a panchayat, and it was decided that Sandeep should get married to both women. Neither the women nor their families objected.
Sandeep, however, is not ignorant about law and the problem he might get into by marrying two women simultaneously. After tying the knots Sandeep said, “There may be a legal issues with marrying two women together, but I love both of them and I cannot leave either of them.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
