On Valentine’s Day: Girls’ college in India forces students to pledge against ‘love marriage’

AMRAVATI, India: On Valentine’s Day, students at a girls’ college in Maharashtra were made to take a pledge against the concept of love marriage, foreign media reported. Students at the Mahila Arts and Commerce College took the pledge in Marathi that they "will not love anyone and never have a love affair nor do a love marriage." "I take an oath that I have complete faith in my parents and I will not fall in love and not do love marriage," the students pledged in an oath that also included that they would not marry anyone who sought dowry.

A student, Ritika Rangaari said, "Whoever we love that person should be good for us and should be self-dependent. It is always better to take advice from the family in matters of love."

While another student Bhavna Tayde said, "I feel what is the need to do love marriage? Our parents are sufficient to take a call on these matters. They will see the best of our interests."

Maharashtra Woman and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur said, "The students must have taken a pledge which is not binding on anyone. The college must have made them take the pledge in the context of alerting them on cases like that in Wardha."

In Wardha, a 24-year-old lecturer who was set ablaze by a stalker near Hinganghat in Wardha district succumbed to her injuries on Monday.

The lecturer was set ablaze allegedly by a jilted lover in Maharashtra's Wardha district near the Hinganghat area on February 3. The unmarried woman had suffered approximately 40 per cent burn injuries and was treated in a Nagpur-based hospital where she later died.