Uttar Pradesh's Ballia made headlines earlier this week when videos of a mass wedding showing brides garlanding themselves with no grooms in sight surfaced on social media. The mass wedding, involving about 568 couples, was conducted under the Chief Minister Mass Marriage Scheme at Maniyar Inter College on January 25.
The event, which had far more brides than grooms, has come under scrutiny with an FIR being registered against assistant development officers of the Social Welfare department and eight beneficiaries on charges of fraud at the Maniyar police station on Tuesday. The action was taken following the complaint of the District Social Welfare Officer Deepak Srivastava, according to PTI.
It was found that the mass wedding was rigged with locals paid to pose as couples getting married in return for a sum of money.
Ballia District Magistrate (DM) Ravindra Kumar said strict action would be taken against all those involved, whether 바카라officers, employees or anyone else바카라.
바카라Two assistant development officers 바카라 Sunil Kumar Yadav and Bhanu Pratap of the Social Welfare department 바카라 have been arrested along Ravindra Gupta, Alok Srivastav, Upendra Yadav, Deepak Chauhan, Mukesh Kumar Gupta, Ramji Chauhan, Santosh Yadav, Arjun Verma, Ramnath, Acchelal Verma, Dharmendra Yadav, Gulab Yadav and Sarabjeet Singh of the Social Welfare department,바카라 he said.
바카라Such action will be taken against those involved in corruption in the Mass Marriage Scheme that it will become an example for Ballia district,바카라 he added.
The Chief Minister Mass Marriage Scheme, also known as Mukhyamantri Samuhik Vivah Yojana, is a social welfare program implemented in the state. It provides beneficiaries with Rs 51,000, distributed as follows: Rs 35,000 directly to the bride, Rs 10,000 for purchasing wedding materials, and Rs 6,000 for organising the wedding ceremony
Although the program has been beneficial for many, speculations around the weddings being rigged and allegations of corruptions have always been there, a local activist said.
Azhar Ali, a social activist working for women바카라s and children바카라s causes in Ballia, said this was not the first time something like this had happened.
바카라I was actually suspicious in the previous mass wedding as well. I had written to the authorities with my concerns about child marriages happening and asked them to do strict age verification,바카라 Ali said.
Ali added, 바카라I asked them to keep a watch on the date of birth of the people getting married because in a group as big as this, it can sometimes be overlooked.바카라
Speaking of the January 25 event, Ali said individuals who were already married were also participating in the ceremony because, according to sources, they had been promised about Rs 2,000.
바카라That바카라s not all, there were some Muslim couples too and they were seen taking pheras,바카라 Ali said.
The local activist said another wedding had taken place just a few days ago and he had his suspicions about that one as well.
Ali added, 바카라Another wedding has also happened two to three days ago in which about 150 women were married. I have my suspicions. Now, let바카라s see if anything comes of that.바카라
According to a press release shared by the Ballia information office: 바카라Minister of State for Social Welfare (Independent Charge) Shri Aseem Arun has taken the matter of giving benefits to ineligible people in the Chief Minister's mass marriage program held on January 25 in Ballia seriously and ordered an inquiry.바카라
According to the official release, accused Assistant Development Officer (Social Welfare) Mr. Sunil Kumar Yadav got beneficiaries Archana, Ranjana and Suman included from Gram Panchayat Manikpur and Priyanka, Sonam, Pooja, Sanju and Ramita from Gram Panchayat Sultanpur involved in the mass marriage program.
바카라During investigation, it was revealed that Sanju was married 3 years ago while Pooja was married a year ago. Apart from this, Archana, Ranjana, Suman, Ramita and Priyanka got married in the year 2023,바카라 the release said,
Ballia Express reporter Madhusudan Singh said the scene at the mass wedding on January 25 was bizarre.
바카라One of our reporters was sent there and when we asked him what he saw, he said the place was filled with brides and there were hardly any groom,바카라 Singh said. 바카라He filmed a video in which we saw women garlanding themselves.바카라
The local reporter said the entire event seemed staged. 바카라People who were already married had been asked to sit in and there was a case of a woman marrying her brother-in-law. On speaking to some couples, it was found that they were told they바카라d be paid if they participated,바카라 said the reporter.
Singh said that complaints of corrupt practices with regard to the mass marriage scheme had also been raised in the nearby town of Nagra a few months ago.
바카라About 50 couples were not given the matrimonial items that they are supposed to get so they started to protest and demanded the things to be given to them. So after that, two days later, they received the items,바카라 Singh said. 바카라Usually people when they tally the list of things they should be getting to what they actually get, they find things missing but then they say it's okay, who바카라s going to fight for a few items.바카라
Former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav criticised the BJP government for the corrupt practices. 바카라A strange rigging of BJP corruption has come to light under the 'Chief Minister Mass Marriage Scheme' in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, where the youth were made false grooms by luring them with money,바카라 he said in a post on X.
바카라This is a betrayal of the girls of the state and also playing with their emotions. This should be investigated seriously because the entire life of young women can be at stake due to such fraud. Every scheme of BJP is made only for corruption.바카라
