Businessman, friends pitch in to host acid attack victim’s wedding

MUMBAI: Two weeks ago, Maharashtrian

businessman

Rushikesh Kadam visited a mango festival in Parel, and while browsing the exhibition for varieties of the fruit, he noticed the disfigured face of a vendor at the Saahas Foundation stall. Twenty-six-year-old Lalitaben Bansi had been the victim of an acid attack in Azamgarh, UP.

As Kadam inquired about her circumstances, he learnt that Lalita was due to wed her suitor, Rahul Kumar, a 27-year-old CCTV operator from Malad, whom she met after he accidentally dialled her phone as a wrong number. The conversation picked up over the past two months and the couple decided to marry.

Kadam says, "I decided right there that me and my friends, who run a group named Udyami Maharashtra, would fund their wedding ceremony. Lalita and Rahul will tie the knot at D'Silva Technical Institute in Shivaji Park Tuesday evening." The marriage will be registered at Thane court at 10.00am.

In 2015 TOI had reported how Sonali Mukherjee of Jharkhand had found happiness with engineer Chittaranjan Tiwari. The couple wed in April that year and now have a daughter.

Lalita Bansi has been similar story. The Kalwa resident was visiting her hometown Azamgarh for her marriage in 2012 when her cousins attacked her with acid owing to personal enmity. Her entire face was burnt. She has since undergone 17 surgeries at Bombay Hospital and Masina Hospital. The treatment will resume after the wedding.

The

NGO

overseeing Lalita's rehabilitation Saahas Foundation is excited that the Hindi film industry has also stepped forward to help. "Actor Vivek Oberoi will gift her an apartment in Thane. Designer duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla have prepared Lalita's trousseau and presented her a wedding necklace. They have also arranged the pandit," says Daulat Bi Khan, founder of Saahas.

Other aspects of the marriage have been sponsored by the members of Udyami Maharashtra. Mrs Kulkarni of Pavitravivah has gifted her Rs 5,000, Anant Bhalekar has offered the banquet hall and catered a full Maharashtrian menu including varan bhaat, masale bhaat and gulab jamun.

Shraddha Jadhav and Amod Desai are helping with promotion while Deepak Pawaskar of Deepak World Travel Company has sponsored the wedding car and a luxurious honeymoon package to Mahabaleshwar. Nandu Dhurandhar and Rahul Chopde will shoot photographs while Shilpa Collection is gifting her imitation jewellery. Jay Khade of Akanksha Footwear Mall, Satara, has arranged the shoes for the couple, Kanchan Shete is mehndi artiste and Ninad Rane of Rane Sarees has presented Lalita a Paithani sari and purse. Rotary Club of Mumbai Shivaji Park will hand over cheques to the bride.

Rushikesh Kadam says, "The manner in which Maharashtrian businesses have pooled in approximately Rs 2 lakh towards Lalita's wedding shows we can similarly join forces for enterpreneurial purposes in future.”