Pratapgarh (Uttar Pradesh), Jul 20 (IANS): In a heart-warming gesture, the Pratapgarh police stepped in to arrange for the wedding of a young girl who had been abandoned by her parents and family members.

The boy's family had also disowned him for some reasons.

The police arranged for the wedding at the Baba Awadeshwar Nath Dham in Shahpur Beti village on the occasion of the first Monday of the month of 'Sawan'.

Devotees, who arrived to offer prayers to Lord Shiva at dham, also turned into guests for the wedding and gave their blessings to the couple.

Station Officer (Hathigawn) Santosh Singh said, "The marriage of Khushboo and Vijay was solemnised at the campus of Baba Awadeshwar Nath Dham. Both, the bride and groom, residents of Kaim Mastapur village, were known to each other for the past two years, but there was one to solemnise their marriage as parents of the bride had left her couple of years ago.

"The relatives of the girl were not able to solemnise her marriage, so the couple approached the station officer of Hathigawn police station and expressed their desire to get married. We called up priest Mohit Mishra and made all the necessary arrangements to solemnise the marriage of the duo at the temple."

When the police apprised the temple committee members about their plan of solemnising the marriage at the temple campus, they too decided to support the police officials in the noble cause.

All the rituals were performed amid chanting of mantras and shlokas.

Interestingly, women devotees from the Kunda village brought toe rings, mangal sutra, saree and other essential items for the bride while other devotees arranged for sweets, fruits, and puja materials for the couple.

Policemen also offered gifts to the newlywed couple and women cops performed the 'bidai' rituals.