Minor sweethearts stealthily ‘marry’ in Andhra college; video goes viral

Rajamundry: A minor boy and a girl stealthily married in a government junior college in the city sometime in November, the video recently surfaced and started making waves in Andhra Pradesh Thursday.

Both the junior intermediate students stood inside an empty classroom as the boy tied the ‘moodu mullu’ (three nuptial knots solemnising a wedding in Telugu culture) around the girl’s neck.

The girl who shot the video, cousin of the bride in the purported wedding, jocularly mocked the groom in Telugu and signature Godavari accent to tie not more than three knots.

Later, the cousin directs the boy to apply the ‘bottu’ (bindi) on the girl’s forehead, a symbolic sacred ritual from a husband towards the wife in Hindu culture.

“Put the bottu soon before anybody comes, I am getting scared. Apply it properly,” said the amused cousin.

As the video ended, she asked both of them to stand side by side, indicating preparation for capturing some wedding photographs.

The couple did not sport any special dress but were in their college uniform while the boy sported a stubble.

Surprisingly, the world did not know about this classroom wedding until somebody leaked it, even as it spread like wildfire in cyberspace on Thursday in the southern state and became a talking point.

“Nobody knows who shared the video. They may have shared it with their friends and it spread to the media,” a police officer who investigated the matter told IANS.

As Rajamundry police themselves did not have an inkling were alerted by the news agency, prompting them to contact the child protection department.

“A child protection officer will produce the two on Friday in front of a committee and take a decision for further action,” he said about the marriage which is suspected to have occurred on November 17.

Police confirmed that the incident took place in East Godavari’s Rajamundry government junior college located after the head post office and before the railway station in the city.

According to police, the juvenile trio reached college more than an hour early by 9 a.m. on that day when there would generally be no students or classmates and managed to convince the watchman that their bus arrived early to pull off the wedding.

“On top of that, only 50 per cent students are attending college on alternate days in view of the Coronavirus pandemic restrictions,” he observed.

Following the incident, the college management dismissed the trio, leaving their future in uncertainty.

“College management gave TCs (transfer certificates) to the three students as punishment for their act,” highlighted the police official.

Meanwhile, the girl has allegedly threatened that she will not live without the boy.

IANS