Uttar Pradesh: Hindus form human chain to escort Muslim ‘baraat’

In a display of communal harmony, a group of Hindu boys in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur city formed a human chain around a Muslim man's "baraat" to safely escort them to their destination.

When the Kanpur city was engulfed in flames of violence over the anti-citizenship law on Saturday, it was a Hindu boy who formed a human chain with his friends and escorted the Muslim baraat to the wedding venue.

The violence and the subsequent curfew had unnerved the Khan family and they decided to postpone the wedding. The groom's neighbour Vimal Chapadiya, after coming to know of the problem decided to help the family.

Chapadiya and his friends, Somnath Tiwari and Neeraj Tiwari, got all their friends together and when the 70-odd 'baraatis' of the Muslim groom arrived, the Hindu boys formed a human chain around them and escorted them from the Bakarganj crossing to the wedding venue which was about a kilometre away.

The boys stayed back till the wedding was over and the 'baraat' was again escorted out of the area to safety.

Chapadiya, who works as an administrator in a private school, said that he merely did what he felt was right.

"I have seen the bride, Zeenat, grow up. She is like my younger sister. How could I let her heart be broken? We are neighbours and I had to stand with the family in times of distress," he said.

Zeenat, meanwhile, said that Vimal was her brother in the real sense of the term and she would never forget what he had done for hr.