Weird wedding: Marriage of youth with ‘nagin’ stopped in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: Thousands of people, gathered in the remote village of Badwapur in Phoolpur area in Varanasi on Saturday to witness the “marriage” of a youth with a “nagin” (female snake).

The youth, who claimed to be a male snake in his previous birth, insisted that he “marry” the female snake, his consort, in his previous birth.

The police, however, intervened, stopped the “marriage” and took the youth into custody on charges of breach of peace.

According to reports, Sandeep Patel, 27, had gone to Surat a year ago in search of a job but he fell ill and returned home about two months ago. He would often go into a trance and claim that he was a snake.

During the recently-concluded Chaitra Navratri festivities, he started claiming that he had met a “nagin” in a local Shiva temple, who had asked him to recall his previous birth and marry her in the temple.

The village residents believed the boy and started making elaborate preparations for the “wedding” that attracted guests from several other villages too.

Phoolpur inspector Sanjiv Kumar Misra reac-hed Sandeep’s house on Saturday but his father, Daya Shankar, assured the cops that no nuisance would be created on the issue. The police searched the house and found Sandeep’s medical reports which confirmed that the boy was mentally unsound and was being treated for the same.

Over 15,000 people had gathered at the Shiva temple to witness the “wedding”.

Police was rushed to control the mob and as soon as Daya Shankar reached the venue with Sandeep and other family members, the police took them into custody. Sandeep was sent to a relative’s home in another district.