Uttar Pradesh has been under curfew following the anti-CAA protests across the country. Reports of violence in many regions of the state have even made national headlines.
Under these circumstances, weddings can get extremely tough, especially you are a Muslim in the region.
But this was not the case for the Khan family from Kanpur’s Bakarganj. Their 25-year-old daughter, Zeenat, was to be married to Hasnain Farooquee from Pratapgarh.
But on the morning of 21st December, the groom called in and said he didn’t know how to safely take his baraat through the curfew-hit region.
It didn’t help that just hours ago, two youths had died during the Anti-CAA protests and police and paramilitary forces had surrounded the area.
The family was naturally worried. But according to the Times of India, their plight reached the ears of their neighbour, Vimal Chapadiya. He, along with two of his friends, Somnath and Neeraj Tiwari spoke to the groom and assured that they would get the baraat safely to its destination.
In the evening, 70 baraatis arrived at Bakarganj Chauraha in cars and a mini-bus. After they stepped down, they were escorted by 50 Hindus, who formed a human chain around them and took them to wedding venue, a kilometre away.
Vimal and his friends stayed back until the bidai and ensured that the bride and groom were safe.
As Zeenat returned to pay her family a visit, the first thing she did was seek Vimal and thanked him.
Zeenat, who lost her father at the age of 12, said:
I didn’t get a wink of sleep in the days leading up to my marriage. A wedding scheduled in the area had been cancelled as the groom’s family refused to come since the situation was so tense. That morning, when my uncle received the call, I had given up… Without Vimal bhaiya’s intervention, the baraat would not have reached here. He came like a farishta in my life.
Speaking about the humanitarian act, Vimal said that he had known Zeenat since she was a kid and couldn’t let her heart be broken! He said that they were neighbours and he had to stand with the family in times of stress.