In a deeply disturbing turn of events, a family in Khatura Uttarpara area of Krishnaganj, Nadia district, has performed the funeral ritual of their living daughter— twelve days after she defied their wishes and married a man of her own choice.
The girl, a first-year college student, reportedly went against the family's arranged match and eloped with her partner, triggering what many are calling a shocking act of social and emotional excommunication by her family.
The incident unfolded after the girl’s family — unwilling to accept her decision — declared her dead and proceeded to conduct full Hindu funeral rites, including the shaving of heads, burning her personal belongings and hosting a Shraddha ceremony attended by neighbors and relatives. A photograph of the girl was garlanded and a priest was summoned to preside over the ritual, as per Hindu tradition typically reserved for the deceased.
"We could not bear the insult that the girl has done to us. This is our protest," the mother of the girl said, visibly emotional but unwavering in her stance.
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According to family members, the girl had previously been brought back home after an earlier attempt to leave, but she eloped again. "She did not understand our love. She did not respect us. So from today, she is not our daughter," said her uncle, Somnath Biswas, adding that they had symbolically accepted her death the day she walked out.
Biswas further confirmed that they had burned all her pictures, books, clothes and documents on Saturday and the ceremony was held as the symbolic "twelfth day"—a traditional mourning period observed in Hindu customs after a death.
Sources revealed that the girl’s father, who works in Israel, has been mentally devastated by the incident. Family members claimed he supported the extreme move as a way of preserving the family's honour and coping with the “shame” he believes was brought upon them.
The bizarre and extreme gesture has left the locals divided— while some residents expressed shock and sorrow at the lengths the family went to, others called it a "tragic example" of deep-rooted societal conservatism and intolerance.
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A neighbour, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “The girl is alive, yet her family has conducted her funeral. This is heartbreaking and disturbing. It's like she's been erased from their lives while breathing.”
No legal complaint has been filed so far, but human rights advocates are already calling attention to the psychological cruelty inflicted upon the girl and urging intervention from women's welfare organisations and mental health professionals.
As of now, the girl is reportedly safe with her husband, but the emotional scars — both in her family and her own life — are likely to last far longer than the rituals of rejection carried out in her name.
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