UP: Brother Marries Sister At Mass Wedding Ceremony To Avail Benefits, Enquiry Ordered

Brother marries sister in UP: At Tundla in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, things did not go as planned at the mass wedding ceremony conducted under the Chief Minister scheme on December 11. After videos and photos from the event began circulating, the village people and head identified one of the couples, who got married, as alleged brother and sister.

The Assistant Development Officer of the Social Welfare Department Chandrabhan Singh has now filed the complaint against the man and household items provided to the "couple" under the scheme have been taken away.

The man had allegedly married his sister for the cash that is given to couples who get hitched under the mass wedding scheme. The incident took place last Saturday, during an event under the Chief Minister's mass wedding program, which was organised in the premises of the Tundla Block Development Office. In this program, 51 other couples also got married.

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The Block Development Officer of Tundla, from where the brother and sister hail, Naresh Kumar has asked for clarification from the officials who oversaw the ceremony and verified the couple. This includes the Gram Panchayat Secretary Marasena Kushalpal, Gram Panchayat Ghiroli Secretary Anurag Singh, ADO Cooperative Sudhir Kumar and Singh.

Kumar said that action will be taken against the people involved. He also said that a First Information Report (FIR) has been registered against the brother and verification of his Aadhar card is going on.

This is not the first time a couple has married for the cash and perks given away at mass wedding ceremonies funded by the government. In November 2018, under this very scheme, a woman got re-married. This took place in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh. The woman had gotten married earlier in February of the same year. However, to avail of the monetary benefits, she registered for the ceremony. Shockingly, when her husband failed to turn up for the event, she still went ahead with her scheme and married another man.

The scheme in question is called Mukhyamantri Samoohik Vivaah Yojana, under which weddings are conducted by the social welfare department. Reportedly, Rs 35,000 is spent on each couple other than the household gifts given to them. According to the scheme details, Rs 20,000 is deposited in the brides' bank account and gifts worth 10,000 rupees are also given,