Bhopal: Muslim couple marry off orphan girl to Hindu groom with Sikh traditions

BHOPAL: Setting a perfect example of brotherhood and religious harmony, Muslim couple running the Nirbhaya Shelter Home, an aftercare shelter for girls above 18 years of age, married off a girl from their home according to Sikh traditions in a city Gurudwara to a Hindu groom from Ujjain on Wednesday. Happy about the union, Samar Khan, founder of the shelter home said the girl wished to get married in the Gurudwara and so they convinced the groom’s family to fulfill her wish.
“My husband and I are Muslims while the groom is Hindu but we do not know the birth religion of the girl. She saw a Punjabi wedding at a Gurudwara a few years ago and told us she also wanted to get married according to the Sikh traditions. So we spoke to the groom’s family and they agreed. The wedding will take place in a city Gurudwara on Wednesday morning,” said Khan.
The wedding took place with the Muslim couple giving away the girl in marriage to the groom, fulfilling the responsibility of the girl's parents during the Anand Karaj.
The girl was shifted to Nirbhaya Shelter Home from another shelter home for minors, when she turned 18.
“Her parents died when she was 5-year-old. She was sent to a shelter home in Ujjain after her relatives could not take care of her. She was later shifted to a shelter home in Bhopal. When she turned 18, she was not eligible to live in the shelter home for children, so was moved here. As we try to rehabilitate orphan girls, we enrolled her in a fashion designing course. After completing the diploma, she said she wanted to get married and we gave an ad in the paper for the same and got a number of proposals,” said Khan.
The WCD committee went through profiles of more than 80 men before selecting the groom.
“We got bio-data of about 80 boys from all over the state, and a few from other states. We showed her the photos of the prospective grooms and she selected a few profiles. We then spoke to the families and the WCD committee finalized a 25-year-old boy, who has his own catering business and runs a sweet-shop in Ujjain. She is very happy at the prospect of having a family to call her own,” added Khan.
Members of the Child Welfare Committee helped the members of the Nirbhaya Shelter home to organise the event.
“It is a very happy occasion and we hope all her wishes will come true. The WCD will keep on checking up on the girl to ensure she is happy and is not facing any problems from the groom’s side. Once they complete three years together without any problem, it will be declared as a successful marriage,” said Kripashankar Choubey, member of CWC.