Marriages: Revelry or bane?

* A 40-year-old unidentified woman died from a gunshot made in celebratory firing during a marriage procession in Karendra village under the Kareli police station last year. The woman was watching the marriage procession from a safe distance when someone in the procession fired shots in the air, accidentally hitting her face. Doctors at the hospital declared her brought dead.
* Two groups clashed in village Neewan under the Dhoomanganj police station last month. The youth in their twenties in a drunken stupor clashed over the issue of firing gunshots in a marriage procession. The brawl took an ugly turn and the police had to be called in before the ceremony could progress.
ALLAHABAD: Drunken revelry in marriage processions has of late become a fad, with law enforcers too preferring to look the other way. Gun toting baratis, blaring DJs and bands and haphazard movement of the marriage procession becomes a bane for an average road user while the fact that firing posses a grave threat to everybody around seemingly does not deter the nuisance makers, their relatives and friends.
While citizens alleged that the lax approach of the police emboldens people to brandish fire arms and such incidents occur because the police do nothing to stop this practice, the police claim that they prefer to adopt a lenient attitude owing to the fact that they do not want to be branded as fun spoilers.
Anand Mohan, a social worker, says ``It is up to the district authorities whether to allow a demonstration, procession or gathering in the district. Once a law is in place for a written permission to be obtained from the police before taking out any procession, rally, dharna, etc. in the district, things would automatically fall in line.''
CO (traffic) Ashutosh Mishra while acknowledging that marriage processions are a major cause of traffic snarls, especially in congested localities, pointed out that the police cannot be expected to know about every marriage being solemnised around the city on a particular day. He felt if the citizens could at least intimate the traffic police, the situation could be handled to a great extent. Nobody wants to play a spoilsport on such occasions and hence adopting harsh measures for marriage processions is simply ruled out, he added.
However, SOG incharge Dhananjay Mishra firmly pointed out that there are several cases wherein the local police have swooped down upon drunken baratis firing in the air, either with licenced or unlicensed weapons.
Asim Abdeen, a publisher of law books, informed that in pursuance to the directions issued by the Delhi High Court in a writ petition, guidelines for regulating processions (religious/political), dharnas, rallies, marriage processions, etc. in Delhi have been framed. ``Why can't we have similar guidelines for the district too, but then someone will have to come forward and seek redressal from the court,'' he said.
In fact, a few years back things had been streamlined to a great extent in the city. Then, the shops in market places would close at 8 pm, marriage processions were not allowed to play loud music and a deadline of shutting down music was fixed at 10pm. Even banquet halls were restrained from playing music after the deadline and in case there was a complaint from any resident, the local police would immediately swing into action.