PANCHPARA, India (Reuters) - A 25-year-old Indian man has married his 80-year-old grandmother because he wanted to take care of her.
"I felt she needed extra care as she is old. I can look after her better as a husband than as a grandson," Narayan Biswas told Reuters.
"As a husband, I am with her all the time, to care for her," said the high school graduate, who farms rice fields and also works as a tutor.
The grandmother, her back bent with age, says she is "happy" with her young husband whom she married in a traditional Hindu ceremony near Panchpara, a village 100 miles west of Calcutta. Her first husband died more than 30 years ago.
"I helped bring him up with my own hands and now he looks after me. He is a good husband and ensures I get my meals on time," said Premodas Biswas, a red vermilion streak on her forehead, the mark of a married Hindu woman.
Local officials say marrying a blood relation is illegal under the Hindu Marriage Act, but they have no plans to take action against the couple.
"There has been no complaint against them and they are living as husband and wife after a temple ceremony. Their own family has accepted them so we have no plans to act as of now," Dilip Das, a local government official, told Reuters.
Last June, a nine-year-old Indian girl was married to a dog near Calcutta after a priest told her parents the wedding would ward off evil.
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