Posters of a beauty contest giving the winner a chance to marry a Canadian NRI groom surfaced in Punjab’s Bathinda, prompting the authorities to register an FIR. Two people have been arrested in connection with the case, said police on Friday.
In the posters that were found pasted on walls at several places in Bathinda on Thursday, it was written that a competition of “beautiful women” (only for the general category) will be organised at a local hotel on October 23. The winner will be offered a chance to get married to an NRI from Canada, according to the poster.
A police official said a case has been registered under relevant sections of the IPC and the Indecent Representation of Women (Management) Act, 1986. Police said further investigation is underway.
Meanwhile, Punjab Social Security Women and Child Development minister Baljit Kaur condemned the incident. “Pasting posters to organise a beauty competition in Bathinda to choose a girl of a particular caste for marriage is highly condemnable,” she said in a statement here. The minister ordered the director of the social security, women and child development department to submit a report in this regard as soon as possible.
Kaur asked the deputy commissioner of Bathinda to take strict action under the relevant section of the Indecent Representation of Women (Management) Act, 1986. Kaur said the matter came to her notice through social media. “There will be an awareness march in the city against the incident,” she said, adding the desire of Punjabis to settle abroad also leads to such incidents.