Celebrations Turn Tragic in Bulandshahr
A joyous wedding ceremony in the Chola area of Bulandshahr turned into a scene of horror late Thursday night, resulting in the death of a 42-year-old man. The incident occurred when celebratory gunfire, a dangerous practice often seen at Indian weddings, went fatally wrong.
The Fatal Sequence of Events
According to police, the victim, Dharmendra Bhati, a property dealer, was part of the group welcoming the baraat. The bride's cousin, Sughriv Solanki, was firing shots into the air using his licensed pistol. An eyewitness account reveals a chilling detail: the weapon initially misfired. When one of his friends taunted him, Solanki reportedly took it as an affront to his pride and kept pulling the trigger until the gun finally discharged.
A stray bullet struck Bhati, piercing his arm before lodging into his chest. Despite being rushed to the hospital, he succumbed to his injuries on the way. SP City Shankar Prasad confirmed that the accused fled the scene immediately after the incident. In a move to aid the investigation, Solanki's father has been detained for questioning.
Aftermath and a Fleeing Accused
A case has been officially registered against Sughriv Solanki under section 103 (1) (murder) of the BNS. Police teams have been formed to arrest him. A relative of the deceased, Kuldeep Singh, shared a heartbreaking detail. He stated that after the firing, Solanki claimed he was going to fetch his car to take Bhati to the hospital. "He never returned. Both were good friends and had come to the wedding together," Singh said, highlighting the personal betrayal amidst the tragedy.
The grief and anger spilled onto the streets on Friday as Bhati's family and relatives staged a protest. They blocked a stretch along the Bulandshar-Jewar road, demanding the immediate arrest of Sughriv Solanki. Dharmendra Bhati is survived by his wife and three minor children.
A Disturbing Pattern of Celebratory Gunfire
This is not an isolated incident in the region. In a chillingly similar event, a 20-year-old woman was killed in Meerut's Shyamnagar area on Tuesday. She was watching a wedding procession from her rooftop when she was hit by a stray bullet from celebratory firing by the baraatis. A case was registered against the groom and 25 other family members in that instance.
These back-to-back tragedies have once again put a spotlight on the deadly consequences of celebratory firing and the urgent need for stricter enforcement of laws against the misuse of licensed weapons during public celebrations.
