What happens when a groom garlands the bride's bestie? He ends up in jail

medium nocaption118707524A drunk groom's misstep at his own wedding in UP – in which he mistakenly garlanded his bride's best friend – set off a series of mishaps, ending with his arrest and the bride calling off the marriage.The incident occurred February 22 – it started as Indian weddings often do – with a delay. The groom, 26-year-old Ravindra Kumar, was late, and when he arrived, he didn't seem to be in a hurry, lingering with his friends, catching up over drinks. The 500-odd guests at a house in Naughwa Bhagwantpur village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly stayed in their seats as the bride waited. The garland-exchanging ceremony – one of those formalities that takes only a moment – was about to begin.And then, Kumar turned to the wrong woman. It was just a second. A miscalculation. But in that brief pause, before anyone could intervene, he placed the ceremonial garland over the bride's best friend. As confusion rippled through the crowd, he took the garland off and then placed it around the neck of a male friend beside her.Then, to perhaps maintain a certain symmetry, he garlanded an elderly guest as well.There are moments when silence is more telling than noise. The wedding guests did not react immediately. They watched. The bride, 21-year-old Radha Devi, on the other hand, did not. She slapped him and walked away. medium nocaption118708984It had taken months of preparation. Omkar Verma, the bride's brother, said the family had spent over Rs 10 lakh on the wedding. He had his own theory for why things had gone wrong. "They were unhappy with the dowry gifts. Maybe this was their way of humiliating us," he said. "And then we find out that he isn't even a farmer as his family told us – he's a truck driver."At 4am, a complaint was filed at the Kularia police station. By morning, the wedding was off, and Kumar was in police custody. By noon, he had apologised. His family suggested the wedding should go on. Radha refused.Circle officer Harsh Modi – used to break-ins and thefts but less accustomed to cases of misdirected garlanding – kept his summary brief. "The groom was drunk and his medical exam confirmed it. He misbehaved. He was booked under sections of the Dowry Act."Bride calls off wedding after drunk groom’s ‘bad touch’Another case of a wedding going wrong after the groom, yet again, arrived drunk. The man’s inappropriate behaviour at his own wedding on February 23 led to its cancellation after he arrived in an inebbriated state and touched the bride inappropriately during the varmala (garland exchange ceremony) in Budaun's Bilsi town in UP, police said.Humiliated, she called him a "goonda" in front of the guests and walked off the stage. Despite efforts from the groom's family to persuade her, she refused to proceed with the marriage, calling his actions "unsafe behaviour".The groom, visibly intoxicated, reached the wedding venue, and as the varmala ceremony began, he misbehaved with the bride. Shocked and furious, she shouted at him, and stormed off, bringing the ceremony to an abrupt halt. medium nocaption118708909Guests from both sides were left stunned, and a heated argument broke out between the two families. The police were called to manage the situation as the groom's relatives insisted on proceeding with the marriage while the bride's family refused and demanded the return of wedding gifts.By the next night, both sides reached a compromise, and the wedding was formally cancelled. The gifts were returned, and a written agreement was recorded in the presence of the police. A guest from the bride's side said, "There were about 250 guests, with 50-60 from the groom's side."The entire act was caught on video, making it deeply embarrassing for the bride. The groom behaved as if she were his personal property, and no father can tolerate such behaviour," he said.Sub-inspector Ashok Kumar Singh, who responded to the incident, said, "We received a distress call at Bilsi police station about a groom misbehaving with the bride, leading to a confrontation between both sides. We reached the spot and brought the situation under control. The groom's act could have resulted in an FIR, but both families later decided to settle the matter through mutual agreement."All arrangements done, groom demands venue change, 5 times more guests From UP to Punjab, where another wedding was called off. But this time the groom wasn’t drunk, he was just acting obnoxious.Police have filed a case against a Patiala-based man and his brother for calling off his wedding, which was to take place last month.The bride's family alleged that days before the wedding, the man asked them to shift the wedding venue from Ludhiana to Patiala and also increased the number of guests five-fold. When they expressed their inability to meet their demands, he called off the wedding. medium nocaption118708942Police registered an FIR against the groom-to-be, Rahul Chayal, and his brother, Monty Chayal, on the complaint of the bride's father Tara Chand Joyia, a resident of Islam Ganj locality in Ludhiana.The complainant said his daughter got engaged to Rahul two years ago and their wedding was scheduled for February 25. It was decided that the baraat (wedding party) would come to Ludhiana from Patiala. All arrangements, such as booking of the marriage hall and catering, were done.The bride's father said a week before the wedding, the groom's family changed the plan and insisted that they hold the ceremony in Patiala instead of Ludhiana. Moreover, they also pressured them to increase the number of guests from 50 to 250.Tara Chand said they had already informed the groom's family that they would not be able to make arrangements for more than 50 guests. When he expressed inability to shift the venue and make arrangements for 200 extra guests, the groom-to-be and his brother called off the wedding.Gurjeet Singh, SHO, division 2 PS, said a case has been registered under sections 318(2) (cheating), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of BNS against the accused, who are yet to be arrested.Illustrations: Varun Vashishtha