Bihar Woman Leaves Husband and Kids for Nephew, Sends Marriage Proof
You don't hear stories like this every day in rural Bihar. Poonam Kumari, a mother of two from Raghunathpur village in Banka district, left her husband and children for someone the family knows all too well — her own nephew. The wedding wasn’t held in secret either. After leaving her family behind, Poonam tied the knot with her nephew at a local temple, documenting the ceremony and sending the photos straight to her husband’s phone. No beating around the bush there.
Her husband, shaken and angry, rushed to the police to file a complaint, not just about losing his wife, but also to highlight the emotional trauma the whole thing caused him and their two children. According to relatives, Poonam left the kids two days before her wedding. The hush-hush temple ceremony had only a handful of people attending—probably because most in the village would have found the union hard to stomach.
Shockwaves in the Village: Taboo or Autonomy?
Word spread quickly in Raghunathpur. Opinions split the community right down the middle. Some neighbors are furious, calling the relationship unacceptable—not just unusual, but practically impossible for them to digest. The idea that a woman could marry her nephew? The conversations got heated, with people shaking their heads and gossip swirling at every tea stall.
On the other hand, a smaller group, mostly younger villagers and a handful of women, say it’s no one else’s business if a grown woman wants to leave a bad marriage and choose her own partner. Poonam, for her part, claims she was pushed to the edge by years of verbal and emotional abuse. She says her old life left her feeling neglected, and marriage to her nephew felt like the only escape route. That doesn’t sit well with her family or traditional-minded villagers, but it’s her side of the story.
Local authorities have stepped in, but there’s not much the police can do besides chalking up notes from both sides. The case isn’t just about a sudden, dramatic relationship switch; it’s opening up tough questions. Who gets to decide what’s ‘acceptable’ in marriage? And is a woman’s happiness less important than the village’s opinion?
Now, here’s where things get knotty: Indian personal laws do feel complicated about these things. Most family law experts agree that while society frowns on marriage between an aunt and nephew, there’s actually no blanket ban in Indian law—except when relationships fall under ‘prohibited degrees of kinship’. Unless there’s a direct violation spelled out in law, the marriage stands, awkward as it may look to others.
The whole saga cuts deep into debates about personal rights, women’s autonomy, and old-school ideas of family in rural India. Poonam Kumari’s decision—and the way she made sure her husband saw every detail—has forced her whole community to pick sides on where tradition ends and personal freedom begins.
