Close brush with death leads to parental consent

YAMUNANAGAR: Theirs is a rare love story with a happy ending, though on a hospital bed, in feudal Haryana, where lovelorn couples are hounded out of their homes and often dealt a gruesome end in the name of honour killings.
Ravinder and Sonia, who apprehended opposition to their marriage from their families, had met with an accident soon after their flight from village and were hospitalised in a health centre at the girl's village, Sadhaura.On Monday, as the duo lay on their hospital beds, their parents, who were only too relieved to find them alive, solemnised their engagement ceremony in the presence of some relative, village elders and the health centre staff.
Ravinder, 20, from Kanipala village of Yamunanagar district, and Sonia, 19, both from scheduled caste families, had eloped on Friday to get married. However, their bike skidded in the narrow lanes of Sadhaura. Their parents came to know about their plans only when they reached the centre.