Rowdy Act, perhaps, but Dowry Act?

Morning, they say, shows the day. Especially with words like 'shaadi', 'vivaah', 'biye', etc, meaning both wedding and marriage in India. But weddings are not necessarily indicative of the marriage that follows. Everyone - especially groom and bride - are usually on their best behaviour. But they do things differently at Naughwa Bhagwantpur in Bareilly, UP. Or at least one person - 26-yr-old groom Ravindra Kumar - did. He turned up, fashionably late, at his wedding after being suitably tanked up. The SOP of exchanging garlands was where matters escalated. Instead of placing the mala around his 21-yr-old bride Radha Devi's neck, he garlanded her best friend. To cover his tracks, Kumar quickly repeated the gesture with other (male) guests. But the damage was already done. The bride-to-be slapped the groom-to-be, resulting in a wedding-not-to-be.

But here's the twist to the tale: the bride's family filed a case against the inebriated groom. For garlanding the wrong persons? We checked. The law has no provisions on wedding mis-garlanding. After a 'medical exam' confirmed that Kumar was drunk, he was booked under sections of the Dowry Act. Rowdy Act, maybe. But Dowry Act? The bride's brother explained that Kumar must have been unhappy about his dowry gifts and was out to humiliate the bride's family. Once again, drinking gets a bad name.