TIRUVANNAMALAI: The bride called off her wedding with a 30 year old man soon after she came to know from the officials that he had concealed the fact he was HIV-positive.
Friends and relatives of the groom had already erected banners announcing the wedding. On seeing the banners, a person telephoned collector and district revenue officer S Palani on Sunday night and alerted them that the groom was HIVpositive.
“I received the call at 9.30pm on Sunday. The caller said that the groom is under treatment for HIV. I immediately contacted SP (R Ponni) and joint director of medical services to verify the information and directed the revenue officials to trace the bride’s family and explain the issue to them,” the collector told TOI.
The officials verified records with the Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre in the Government Hospital. According to the records, he was under treatment since July 30, 2014. “At 1.30am on Monday, we collected the groom’s medical reports. We contacted him on the number that we found in the report. He told us that he would come and meet us in person within an hour, but he did not turn up,” tahsildar of Chengam M Kamaraj.
In the meantime, the officials managed to trace the bride’s sister’s contact number and alerted her. However, she refused to believe them. “By the time we called the bride’s family, he had already told them that rival ‘party workers’ were trying to stop the marriage by spreading lies about him. So, we rushed to the marriage venue,” he added.
Medical officer Senthil Kumar, along with Chengam DSP and tahsildar, told the bride and her family members of the groom’s condition. The girl then decided to call off the wedding. TNN “The family was thankful for saving the girl’s life. We are also happy as our continuous effort to collect the medical reports, trace the families within seven hours, that too in late night, turned fruitful” the collector said.
The girl’s family sought police protection to return to their village safely. It was a happy ending since the girl was married off to another man, reportedly a relative, in their native village on the same day