DM honours principal for returning dowry amount

ARA: The phone has not stopped ringing at Hrindra Singh’s residence in Ekta Nagar locality of the town since CM Nitish Kumar rang up the retired principal of Aadarsh Middle School of Kaura village, situated under Jagdishpur block of Bhojpur district, to congratulate him for his exemplary act of returning the dowry amount of Rs 4 lakh that he had received for his younger son’s marriage that is to be solemnized on December 3.

Singh was inspired by the CM’s speech at the Lakshmi Narayan Mahayagya in Chandwa on October 4, in which the latter had called upon the people to shun dowry and eradicate child marriage. The retired school principal, whose native village is Barnaon under Jagdishpur block of Bhojpur district, had settled the marriage of his younger son, Prem Ranjan Singh (25), an ITI diploma holder who runs an electrical shop at Ara, to Anuradha, the third daughter of one Pramod Singh of Jamalpur, Koelwar, in February this year.

The bride’s party gave Rs 4 lakh in April for help in marriage preparation to an extremely reluctant Singh. But his conscience started pricking him since he heard the CM’s speech at Chandwa on October 4. He asked his elder son, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, to return the dowry amount to the bride’s party on October 10. “Initially, the would-be bride’s brother, Rohit Singh, was shocked when I returned the money, thinking that we are cancelling the marriage. But when I assured him that the marriage will be solemnized without dowry, he profusely appreciated our noble gesture. The bride’s younger sister is yet to be married. The returned amount will come in handy for the education and marriage of their youngest daughter,’ Rajiv said.

Singh said the CM congratulated him on October 18, saying he was pleased with his exemplary and bold step, which the society ought to emulate. “The CM has invited me to meet him after Chhath,” Singh added.

This noble act has catapulted the retired principal to sudden fame and put him at the forefront of the anti-dowry crusade in the district. Bhojpur DM Sanjeev Kumar felicitated Singh on Monday by presenting him a shawl and a citation. The DM said his noble act of returning the dowry amount was inspiring, commendable and worth emulating for the society as the evil system of dowry is responsible for female infanticide and skewed sex ratio at many places.
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