Expectations: No expensive gifts, no bride

Groom’s party sent back without bride ‘for buying cheap clothes for her’.

FAISALABAD:

A bridegroom was sent back by the bride’s family on Tuesday ‘for not bringing suitable clothes for the bride’.

Sagheer Ahmad’s son Akhtar Ali was engaged to be married to Chak 67-JB Sadhar resident Noor Din’s daughter.

On Tuesday night, after the nikah ceremony, the family asked the bridegroom’s mother and sisters to display the bride’s clothes and jewellery they had brought for the bride.

A relative of the bride said that during the display, the bride’s mother heard some guests commenting on the “poor” quality and “smaller” number of gifts.

This led to an argument between her and the guests. The bride’s mother confronted the bridegroom’s parents and said that the incident was a bad omen that they had brought cheap clothes for her daughter.

She said this showed how they would treat her daughter. This led to an argument between some of the bride’s and the bridegroom’s relatives.

Some of the bride’s relatives then locked the groom and his father in a room.

The bride’s family demanded that the dowry already sent to the groom’s house be returned. They also asked for the money spent on the reception.

They said the groom’s family were “making a fool of them” by bringing the bride cheap clothes and accessories.

Some elders from both sides tried to settle the matter, but to no avail.

Some guests called the police, who released the groom and his father.

Assistant Sub Inspector Akbar Ali of Thikriwala police said the matter between both sides had been resolved. However, he said, the bride’s family refused to let the groom take her.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2013.