UP Bride Calls Off Wedding After Groom Fails to Read Newspaper Without Glasses On

While weddings in across the world get called off due to a mismatch between families, or a difference between the couple getting married. In a unique case in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya, a wedding was called off at the last moment after the groom could not read the newspaper without his glasses on. 

The incident from Auraiya district took place after Arjun Singh, a resident of Jamalpur village of Sadar Kotwali area, had fixed the marriage of his daughter, Archana, with Shivam, who is a resident of Banshi village. Singh chose Shivam as he was a “well-educated boy" and soon fixed the date of marriage, and began all preparations. The traditional ceremony of ‘Shagun’ was also performed before the wedding, by gifting the groom a motorcycle.

Things however, took a turn for the worse on the day of the wedding. Arjun Singh tells press  that “when the Baraat procession came to the house on June 20, the groom was constantly seen wearing spectacles the whole time." The women of the family, including the bride felt suspicious guessing his weak eyesight and then asked the groom Shivam to read a Hindi newspaper without his glasses on, which he failed to do. The groom could not see without



his glasses, and on knowing this, the bride refused to marry him. Respecting her decision, the bride’s family also unanimously agreed to call off the wedding.

A police case was also registered by the bride’s family against the groom and his relatives. Allegedly, while the groom was not illiterate, he could not read the newspaper because his eyesight was weak. The bride was not okay with marrying someone who had such poor eyesight.

The bride’s family also demanded the return of the cash and motorcycle given as dowry to the groom and the return of all expenses that was spent in the marriage. When the boy’s side refused, an FIR was lodged at a police station in Auraiya Kotwali.

Earlier in May, in a seperate incident, a groom, all decked up, reached the wedding hall with his ‘baraat’ in Uttar Pradesh, but the bride, who was suspicious of his educational qualifications, asked him to recite table of 2, before the garlands could be exchanged. The groom failed to recite the table and the marriage was called off. Panwari Station House Officer, Vinod Kumar, said, it was an arranged marriage and the groom hailed from Dhawar village of Mahoba district.