Ahmedabad: As many as 236 girls who have lost their fathers were today married off at a mass-wedding ceremony here.
The event was organised by the local real estate firm P P Savani Group.
Jay Savani (C), cousin of Mahesh Savani, organiser and director of PP Savani Group, weds his bride Divya at a mass wedding of 236 fatherless girls organised by the charitable PP Savani Group in Surat, some 270 km from Ahmedabad, on December 25, 2016.
Out of 236 fatherless girls married in the mass wedding event, five were from the Muslim community, and one Christian, with the majority being Hindus. / AFP PHOTO / SAM PANTHAKY
Mitul Savani (C), son of Mahesh Savani, organiser and director of PP Savani Group, weds Janki in the presence of a Hindu Brahmin (L) at a mass wedding of 236 fatherless girls organised by the charitable PP Savani Group in Surat, some 270 km from Ahmedabad, on December 25, 2016.
Out of 236 fatherless girls married in the mass wedding event, five were from the Muslim community, and one Christian, with the majority being Hindus. / AFP PHOTO / SAM PANTHAKY
Five Indian Muslim grooms assemble at a mass wedding of 236 fatherless girls organised by the charitable PP Savani Group in Surat, some 270 km from Ahmedabad, on December 25, 2016.
Out of 236 fatherless girls married in the mass wedding event, five were from the Muslim community, and one Christian, with the majority being Hindus. / AFP PHOTO / SAM PANTHAKY
Indian fatherless girls arrive for the mass wedding of 236 fatherless girls organised by the charitable PP Savani Group in Surat, some 270 km from Ahmedabad, on December 25, 2016.
Out of 236 fatherless girls married in the mass wedding event, five were from the Muslim community, and one Christian, with the majority being Hindus. / AFP PHOTO / SAM PANTHAKY
Notably, apart from these 236 girls which included five Muslims and a Christian, two boys from Savani family also got married at the ceremony.
“I feel extremely proud for organising such a mass wedding….My son Mitul and my uncle’s son Jay also got married during the ceremony,” said Mahesh Savani of Savani Group.
“Of these 236 girls, five were from Maharashtra, three from Rajasthan, one from Bihar and rest were from Gujarat. During the ‘Kanyadaan’, we gave them clothes, ornaments, utensils and five house appliances each,” he said.
The family had been organising such weddings for the last five years, he told PTI.
“I have now become a proud foster-father of 708 fatherless girls who were married off by my family in the last five years,” he said.
