Delhi woman’s wedding called off over dowry in new currency

Delhi woman’s wedding called off over dowry in new currency

Mangalore Today News Network

Nov 25, 2016: In an incident in which a Delhiite would probably be thanking PM Modi for demonetisation, a woman realised her groom’s greed for dowry after her parents declined to provide a car and jewellery, citing cash crunch and promising the goodies would be delivered once the monetary situation improves.

Apparently, the boy’s party flew into a rage and began insulting them on how they could have "waited for the last minute" and broke off the wedding which was scheduled for November 25.

The woman, a 25-year-old independently practising lawyer, is a resident of East Delhi, while her to-be-husband was a senior executive with an MNC based in Badarpur, South Delhi. Speaking to Mail Today on Wednesday, the woman said: "The match was arranged by a distant relative in April this year. While their behaviour had been bothersome over the past eight months, we carried on thinking that calling off the wedding would be embarrassing. However, we had no inkling that they were expecting a dowry."

Her mother said: "A week back, when we told them in passing that things like jewellery and car would take time as old currency notes in Rs500 and Rs1,000 that we had withdrawn from banks are now of no use, they started insulting us".

"They said ’You are not giving your daughter anything new. This is a ritual, a practice being followed by Indian households for generations. How could you wait till something like demonetisation to happen? You have purposefully deprived us of what we deserved’. We were shocked at their reaction," she added. The woman’s father said: "We told them that I have only two daughters and they will inherit all the property and bank balance we have. But yesterday they came and asked the wedding to be postponed till the jewellery and car are arranged for. And when we expressed our inability in this situation, they simply cancelled everything."

The mehendi ceremony was planned for Wednesday and ’sagan’ for Thursday, to be followed by the wedding. "Our relatives were all supposed to have arrived," the woman said.