In a bizarre incident, a sister of a bride was made to marry the groom after the bride collapsed and died in the middle of her wedding ceremony, the Daily Mail has reported.
The incident reportedly took place in India's Uttar Pradesh, where the bride Surabhi was tying the knot with Manoj Kumar. The bride suffered a heart attack and collapsed on the stage after exchanging garlands as part of Hindu tradition. A doctor was rushed to the wedding but he declared the bride dead.
To keep the wedding festivities afloat, both families decided to get Surabhi's sister married to the groom.
"We did not know what to do in the situation. Both the families sat together and someone suggested that my younger sister Nisha should be married to the groom. The families discussed the matter and both agreed", Surabhi's brother Saurabh told IANS.
"The sister's marriage to Kumar was solemnised while Surabhi's body was kept in another room. After the wedding, when the 'baraat' (wedding procession) left, Surabhi's last rites were held", Saurabh added.
According to reports, the bride's mother, Guddi Devi, made an emotional appeal for the wedding to continue.
"Mummy is in a lot of pain. She calls for her day in and day out as she was the eldest daughter. She had dreamed of doing wonders in her life", Surabhi's brother Gaurav told the Daily Mail.
Earlier this year in Odisha, a newlywed bride died of a heart attack after crying inconsolably during her "bidaai" (the process of leaving her father's house).