Fifteen couples ceremonially have registered their marriages in remote Arazi Kanua village under Kawnia upazila here after 20 to 35 years of beginning conjugal life through overcoming the wraths of social curses. Social Development Foundation with the assistances of Souhardo-II Programme of CARE Bangladesh assisted in registering the marriages at its office on Thursday with chairman of local Tepamadhupur union Alim Uddin in the chair. Kawnia upazila Vice-chairman Selina Akhter Talukder Sheuly and journalist Sarwar Alam Mukul addressed the ceremony as the chief guest and special guest respectively.
President of Arazi Kanua Village Development Committee Abdul Mazid, its Member Mahbubur Rahman, Marriage Registrar Abdul Aziz,
officials of Souhardo-II Programme Mahmudul Hassan, Bano Shree Mandal, Mahmuda Akhter and Taznahar Akhter, spoke. Over 100 couples of the area, local community leaders, union parishad members, teachers, students, adolescents, Imams, matchmakers, guardians, farmers, workers, day-labourers and elite attended the ceremony. The exceptional ceremony got a cheerful look when Marriage Registrar Abdul Aziz first registered the marriage of couple Abdul Mazid and Zamila Khatun after 35 years of their wedding.
After registering their marriage, couple Abdul Mazid and Zamila Khatun said they did not know anything about marriage registration when their parents arranged their marriage 35 years ago in the remote village.
“It was quite unbelievable even few years back that the people living in this remote village could even think about marriage registration,” they said.
Following motivational works being conducted under the Souhardo-II Programme, things have been changed now, villagers began avoiding social curses and arranging marriages of their sons and daughters with registrations, they said.
The other couples also expressed similar views and happiness after registering their marriages one after another in the ceremony.
All of the couples vowed to stop marriages with dowry, child marriages or marriages without registrations in the process of building a happy, developed and prosperous Bangladesh through ensuring planned families in rural areas.
In her speech, the chief guest congratulated the couples for registering their marriages even after 35 years and said the example would create a positive impact in building a society free from social curses. She called upon all concerned for further strengthening the campaign in the rural areas to create a renaissance in building a society free from social curses and superstitions including marriage without registration.
-With The Independent input
