Wedding and funeral within hours: Woman grieves death of daughter-in-law
Priyanka decided to go ahead with the marriage ceremony of her daughter and also performed the last rites for her daughter-in-law
PUNE In a heart-wrenching turn of events, Priyanka Ishwar Wagh (45), mother of Avinash Wagh, found herself torn between grief and duty. As a tragic murder shattered the joy of her daughter Sanskriti’s wedding celebration, Priyanka made the agonising decision to go ahead with the ceremony. Simultaneously, she also performed the last rites for her daughter-in-law, Tripti, whose mother had refused to accept her body.
It was supposed to be a day of joy. On Saturday night, as the family gathered in Chopda town in Jalgaon for the pre-wedding ceremony, the celebrations were ripped apart when Tripti (24) was shot dead — allegedly by her own father, Kiran Mangale. Tripti’s husband, Avinash, was also seriously injured in the attack. Within moments, the wedding venue turned into a place of grief.
Holding back her tears, Priyanka made the agonizing decision to complete the wedding ceremony. On Sunday, around 11:30 am, Sanskriti’s marriage was quietly solemnized. There was no music, no celebrations — just a few relatives silently witnessing the rituals, their eyes brimming with tears.
“We had no other option. The groom’s family had already arrived, and the marriage had to be completed,” said a family member.
“Yes, it was very difficult. But after discussing with other family members, we decided to go ahead,” said Priyanka.
No sooner were the wedding rituals over than Priyanka rushed to the government hospital, where Tripti’s post-mortem was being conducted. There, another blow awaited her — Tripti’s mother refused to accept her daughter’s body for the funeral.
Once again, Priyanka stepped up. Treating Tripti as her own daughter, she and a relative bought a green sari and sindoor — symbols of a married woman — from the local market. With trembling hands, Priyanka draped the sari over Tripti’s body.
“She was like my own daughter,” Priyanka said softly, as she lit the funeral pyre around 3:30 pm on Sunday, with the help of the police.
But the day’s trials were far from over. Priyanka was informed that her injured son Avinash needed to be shifted urgently to Pune for better medical treatment. She once again gathered her strength and, by Sunday evening, began the journey to Pune with her wounded son.
Amid all this, Priyanka said she could not complete her daughter’s ‘Bidai’ ceremony — the traditional farewell to the bride.
Madhukar Salve, police inspector at Chopda city police station, said, “The relatives, including Tripti’s mother, refused to accept her body. Hence, with the help of her mother-in-law, the last rites were performed.”
For Priyanka, it is a wound that will never heal — a day that began with hope and ended in unbearable loss.
Tripti’s life had been marked by struggles. For the past five years, she and Avinash had been in love, having met when Avinash was staying in Sarvad village with his aunt. Their relationship, however, faced strong opposition from Tripti’s family because Avinash, a Class 12 graduate working as a helper in a Pune company, was considered too different from Tripti, who was studying Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS).
Earlier this year, Tripti’s father had allegedly forced her to undergo an abortion, taking her home under the pretext of care. Despite managing to escape and return to Avinash in Pune, the threat to her life loomed.