The highest number of cases of forced marriages were reported in 2024.
A strange incident has taken place in India in which a man was kidnapped in Patna and forced to marry a local girl at gunpoint.
Avnish Kumar had recently cleared the Bihar Public Service Commission exam to become a teacher. While on his way to his school where he was employed, two cars blocked the path of his rickshaw.
Several unknown persons got out of the vehicles and pointed guns at Avnish. He was kidnapped, beaten up and forcibly married to a girl with whom he had allegedly been in a relationship for four years.
Although Avnish has denied any relationship with the girl named Gunja, the bride has said that Avnish had promised to marry me and start a family. We were in a love relationship for four years. But when I told my family about it and we approached her to get married, she refused. It was unacceptable.
The incident is another example of 'pakadwa vivaah', in which unmarried men are forced to marry at gunpoint in Bihar.
According to local police, the number of forced marriages has reached its highest in 30 years in 2024.
