Hindus Join Mass Marriage of Muslim Girls In Odisha

SAMBALPUR: In a noble gesture, city-based social organisation Alla Hazarat Welfare Committee solemnised the marriage of four Hindu and 13 Muslim girls at Sunapali. All the girls belong to economically weaker sections and their parents were unable to marry them off due to financial constraints.
Alla Hazarat Welfare Committee has been organising mass marriage of poor Muslim girls for the last three years. Secretary of the committee Atif Alam said the objective of the organisation is to help poor girls, irrespective of their religion, who find it difficult to tie the knot due to monetary problems. Needy families select grooms for their daughters and apply with the committee for help to organise their marriages. The committee members then visit the houses of the applicants. If they find that families are poor, the necessary steps are taken to arrange the marriages. All expenses of the marriages are borne by the committee by collecting money from its members, Alam said.
While the marriages of Muslim brides were performed as per Islamic rituals, the Hindu girls exchanged garlands and rings with their grooms during the mass wedding ceremony on the day.
The committee gifted household articles, including refrigerator, washing machine, air-cooler, grinder, steel almirah, furniture, utensils and clothes to the newly-wed couples. A community feast was also organised after the mass marriage at the venue.
Manasi Pradhan, a Hindu girl whose marriage was solemnised at the event, said her family had applied for help to the committee. “I am thankful to the organisation for arranging my marriage,” she said. While Manasi’s father is bed-ridden, her mother is a domestic help.
(Taken from https://www.newindianexpress.com/)