No toilet at home, no marriage - this had been the position of three would-be brides.
Now that their demand has been accepted, and each one of them were rewarded with a cash award of Rs 2 lakh on Wednesday by Sulabh International, an organisation in the forefront of the sanitation movement.
"I was embarrassed to know women relieve themselves in the open and worried something unpleasant might happen to me. Though my in-laws promised they would get it, I decided to run away until a toilet was there," said Priyanka, who had escaped the wedding scene in Maharajganj in April.
Back to her in-laws' place she was shown the toilet before entering the house.
"I am proud of my wife. She dared to raise the problem women in my family were facing for decades but was ignored," said Amarjeet, husband of Priyanka.
Jyoti of Sant Kabir Nagar and Priyanka Rajbhar of Kushinagar, who were also felicitated by Sulabh, promised to make women conscious of the need for a toilet at home.