News of the Weird

Weird news out of eastern India:

Girl married to dog to avoid bad omen



22 January 2005



RANCHI — Adding one more chapter to Jharkhand's history of blind belief, an eight-year-old girl was married to a neighbourhood dog in the certainty that it would ward off evil spirits.



The event in a village in Dhanbad, 240km from here, earlier this week included all the trappings of a normal wedding including a marriage feast and dowry.



The girl's father, Shankar Munda, was quoted as telling local newspapers that his daughter had grown "dog teeth" on her upper jaws which was considered a bad omen. "If the marriage had not been solemnised, our family might have faced some trouble," he reportedly said.



Villagers showed little remorse, justifying the incident. "If she had not been married to a dog, it could have invited evil spirits and the village could have faced serious trouble," said Raju Mandal.
Incidents like this are a good reminder that the world's opinion of us isn't always something to necessarily take seriously.