Bhubaneswar, Apr 22 (IANS): In a heartwarming gesture, the Odisha police conducted the marriage ceremony of two surrendered Maoists in Kalahandi district.
The marriage was solemnised in a temple at the Reserve Police Ground in Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district on Friday in the presence of Pandit Rajesh Uttamrao, D.I.G of police (south-west range) Koraput, Saravana Vivek M, SP Kalahandi and Biblab Sarkar, Commandant CRPF 64th Battalion.
The marriage was solemnised with full fanfare and a feast was also organised by the police in the temple premises in which the family members of the bride and the bridegroom participated along with the police and mediapersons.
According to the police, groom Ramdas, a native of Chhattisgarh state, surrendered before the Kalahandi police in 2020 while bride Kalamdei is originally from Kalahandi and surrendered in 2016.
After the surrender, Ramdas was given Rs 3.98 lakhs and Kalamdei was given Rs 2.98 lakhs as per the government's rehabilitation policy. Both of them were also given vocational training as per their choice, the police officials said.
Ramdas was a member of the banned CPI (Maoist) Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division for almost nine years before surrendering. He was from a poor family from Bijepur district of Chhattisgarh. He has two sisters and one brother whom he did not meet for more than ten years till the Kalahandi police facilitated their meeting after his surrender.
Kalamdei was a member of the Bansadhara-Ghamsar-Nagabali (BGN) division of banned Maoists for almost a year before her surrender, they said.
Earlier, the Kalahandi police had arranged Ramdas father's cataract surgery and during his recovery, both Ramdas and Kalamdei's family met and decided to go ahead with their marriage.
The Kalahandi SP took the initiative to arrange their marriage in Bhawanipatna.
"It is a matter of happiness for us that two surrendered Maoists have tied the knot today," said the SP.
The newlywed couple thanked the police for their help and support due to which they returned to the mainstream of society.