Bride-seeing goes bad, man gives up marriage wish

Md Abdul Aziz was a 28-year-old electrician from Gazipur looking for a partner to spend his life with. But the ordeal he had to go through to meet a prospective bride went so bad that he was left with haunting memories and a wish not to get married anytime soon.

He had told an elderly neighbour of his desire to get married. The veteran, Md Arman, 65, took the request dearly and found a match for Aziz through an associate matchmaker.

Accordingly, the two went to Dhaka’s Demra area to meet the prospective groom yesterday.

Instead, they were met with a group of youths who confined them, pushed a lady in the room and accused them of committing illicit relationship. They beat the to-be bride and his guardian to a pulp and demanded Tk 2 lakh money for release.

As the two contacted family members and managed to secure Tk 25,000 through bKash mobile transaction, the law enforcers drove into the scene and rescued them.

Nine people were arrested, said Abdul Baten, joint commissioner of Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in a press briefing. “They are a gang who lures in clients through advertisements in the newspapers and trap them.”

Those arrested were primarily identified as Abdul Halim, Md Rony, Mobarak Hossain, Rozina, Md Selim, Md Monjur, Md Rafiq, Mostofa and Hannan Matbor.

Mohammad Bashir Uddin, senior assistant commissioner of DB (East), told The Daily Star police suspect there are 22-25 people working in the gang. “Their most frequent mode of operation is by luring people in the name of showing bride for marriage.”

According to him, they mostly lure in people from the places around the capital city of Dhaka.

A horrified Aziz told The Daily Star: “I have had enough of this marriage business. For now, I am thinking I will go abroad and work. Maybe, if I come back after four or five years, I will think about getting married.”