Suraj (R) married his mother-in-law Asha Devi in a panchayat-approved ceremony in Bihar’s Madhepura district.
A 42-year-old woman married her son-in-law in a panchayat-approved ceremony in Bihar’s Madhepura district, leaving her daughter and one-year-old grandson in shock.
The 19-year-old daughter – Lalita — was happily married for over two years before her mother Asha Devi fell in love with Suraj, 22, when she visited the young couple to take care of the ailing son-in-law.
How did it happen?
The villagers all seem to know the twists and turns of this bizarre ‘love story’.
Suraj Mehta married Lalita Kumari, the daughter of Surendra Mehta of the nearby Maruaahi village in Auraee Panchayat, in June 2013. Being an agricultural labourer, Suraj worked hard to sustain his wife and son (the child was born in 2014). His work made him fall ill.
This was when his mother-in-law Asha Devi came to Puraini to enquire after his health, and then stayed back to help Mehta through his recuperation.
“It was during this time that they developed a physical relationship,” says Suraj’s father Parmanand. “I had warned my son to stay away from her.
Asha Devi’s husband (Surendra Mehta) has been working as a Grade Four employee at a factory in Delhi. She lives alone at her village with a daughter and two sons. Suraj became a frequent visitor to her home – the distance between the two villages is a mere three km.
“All of us villagers have been in the know for the past two years that Suraj Mehta and Asha Devi are in a sexual relationship,” says Pappu of Maruaahi village.
On the morning of 5 June, Suraj went Maruaahi and took Asha Devi to Dhamdaha on the pretext of consulting a doctor. They got married at a Shiva temple and on the following day, with the help of a local advocate, tied the knot before the notary. They have not mentioned their relationship in the affidavit they submitted in court.
“The couple celebrated their (first night) as registered husband and wife at the house of their relative in Tarauna village,” says Umesh Ram, who is a lawyer at the village court of Puraini.
News of their marriage spread like wildfire across the villages and when they landed at Puraini two days later, people welcomed them with abuse.
In Bihar, there is an old saying that goes: “The reproductive organ does not recognise even sisters of mothers”. Furthermore, the Kaulik sect that originated from the Aghora cult has this notion, in Sanskrit: “Sarv Yoni Biharesu, Matri Yoni Barjite (one can have sex with anyone barring one’s mother)”.
It was perhaps this dogma that led Suraj Mehta to marry his mother-in-law Asha Devi, on 6 June, before a notary of Dhamdaha Court in Purnea district of Bihar. They lived as ‘legal’ husband and wife merely for 17 days at Mehta’s thatched house in Puraini village, Madhepura district.
Mehta and Asha Devi both belong to the Kushwaha caste. Suraj’s father Parmanand Mehta has deserted him; “I feel ashamed to accept him as my son,” he says, his anger apparent. The other members of their caste have also boycotted the couple.
However, Suraj is now pleading for the marriage bond to be broken so that he could return to his former wife, Latila. He said he had now realised his foolishness.
“I have come to realize my foolishness. I admit I have committed the mistake, but will never repeat in future. Now, I no longer treat her (Devi) as my wife, rather, I have started paying her regard as a mother and an in-law that she is.
“I am on my knees, I’m begging Lalita to take me back home for the sake of our son,” Mehta added.
On 23 June, both Mehta and Asha Devi filed for divorce in front of the same notary.
Reports filtering out from the house of Suraj and Asha Devi state that they are not living together as husband and wife but are desperate to return to their respective worlds.
In the meantime, Lalita Kumari and Surendra Mehta have filed a case in the court at Uda Kishanganj for recovering her dowry, although some village elders are attempting to change the minds of the angry father and daughter.
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