Wedding Called Off in Cachar: "Threatened with divorce, asked dowry," Bride's side; "False allegations, demanded compensation," groom

As reported first by Barak Bulletin, a high-profile wedding got canceled at the very last moment on December 15, prompting intervention from the police. Former Cachar District Congress President, Pradip Dey, who is the uncle of bride-to-be Arunima Dey, spoke with Barak Bulletin, describing the turn of events that led to the cancellation of the wedding.

According to Dey, both families met through a matrimonial website, mutually agreed upon the match, and finalised the wedding in a pure arranged marriage fashion. As per the plan, the groom’s family, hailing from Dum Dum, Kolkata, arrived at the Pailapool wedding hall in Silchar.

Pradip Dey informed that an argument broke out between both parties once the groom’s side started pushing for the wedding. “The moment they entered the wedding hall, they started rushing us to start the wedding. We told them there are people here, and we need to host them, so the wedding will be done at a later lagna as there were many. We offered them food to eat, and they responded by saying they will only eat once the marriage is done, which is very unusual for us and our culture here,” shared Dey.

However, the argument intensified following the registry marriage. Pradip Dey reveals that the groom’s father raised a question as to why he wasn’t made the witness to the marriage in the registry and why only the bride’s side signed the papers. “We tried explaining to the groom’s father that it is not a problem if the boy’s father is not signing, but he took it into his ego. Then he started talking to his son and threatening to call the wedding off. To this, the groom said, how can they withdraw from the wedding once the registry marriage is done? That is why the father of the groom said, we will get a divorce. The word ‘divorce’ outraged the family members of the bride, and they started confronting the groom’s father. The bride’s mother fell ill after hearing the divorce plans on the day of her daughter’s wedding, and we decided that we would not go ahead with the wedding,” informed Pradip Dey.

Former District Congress President also alleged that the groom’s family had asked for a dowry of Rs 10 lakh, something that they have mentioned in the FIR lodged with the Police too. At what stage did the groom’s family ask for the dowry, and when Dey is saying that the Bride’s side called off the wedding once the “Divorce” word was used, when exactly does this Dowry allegation come into the equation is something that remains ambiguous.

On the other hand, Mrinmoy Sengupta – the groom in the equation took a jibe at the bride’s family and said that the allegations pressed against him are “false and baseless”. Speaking with Barak Bulletin, Sen Gupta said that he came to know about Arunima Dey in June 2023, after she had sent a contact request on Jeevansaathi – a matrimonial website. Like Dey, he too mentioned that it was an arranged marriage, and they met each other before saying yes to the wedding.

About the wedding day, Mrinmoy Sengupta’s version is, “Me, my family with my sister and her 13-month-old daughter, reached the reception hall at around 7:15 pm while the marriage was supposed to start by 8:11 pm. To our astonishment, we found that there were no such arrangements to start the marriage on time. We requested them to start the marriage in time so that we can follow the lagna timing.”

Sengupta adds, that while they were still in discussion to start the wedding process as per Lagna’s timing, the registry marriage process kicked in. “They managed to bring the marriage registers, and we found that in the registry document, there were no names from our side as witnesses. We asked the reason, and they just tried to force me to sign the document to which we agreed and signed the document.”

Even after the registry marriage was done, Mrinmoy Sengupta says the Deys didn’t have any willingness to start the wedding. “Seeing their unwillingness to start the marriage, we got a bit agitated and asked them to follow the next lagna, which was at 9:52 pm. At that moment, the girl Arunima Dey, her father Arabinda Dey, and her mother Rumi Dey disagreed with starting the marriage. Instead, they started to ask for compensation in monetary value, which we started to consider. But then they captivated us inside one room,” says Mrinmoy Sengupta, who had traveled from Kolkata to undergo his wedding ceremony.

“I want to make it clear that at no point during the marriage did we demand any dowry or other marital gifts from the girl’s family,” he asserts, claiming that the allegations pressed by Pradip Dey are “False and Baseless”.

Mrinmoy Sengupta pressed some counter allegations against the bride’s family, like creating pressure on them and then captivating them within the confinement of one room. He also alleged that they were threatened with being “beaten to death” and “hurled abuses”. “There was no food or water provided, and they kept asking us for compensation for the marriage they broke by not arranging everything on time. I was even seated on the Mancha for 45 min and waited for the marriage to start. Then at around 2 am in the night, the police appeared, we made everything clear to the police, and the police told us to wait inside. Still, in front of the police, the threatening and abusing were going on.” He shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation with the bride at and 10:47 pm, it is visible that he has sent a voice note to the bride. According to him, the voice note mentioned that “I am still ready to get married to you.”

It is clear that there are allegations and counter-allegations that need meticulous probing before one takes sides. As Cachar SP Numal Mahatta said about the case, “The charges pressed are bailable offenses, and now the parties need to approach the honorable court where the case will be further argued, and justice will be served.”