Mahak was 19 years old and had one thing on her mind: marrying the man she loved.
In a village in the Bahraich district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, she climbed a mobile phone tower about 30 meters high. Her partner, who was 23, worked in Bombay, hundreds of kilometers away, and neither family approved of the relationship. A crowd gathered below. The police, neighbors, and her own relatives urged her to come down. She said no.
For about four hours, alone with everyone watching, she waited. Meanwhile, officers opened talks with both families until they secured their consent. Then they connected by video call with the groom in Bombay. When he agreed, the marriage took place online.
Only then did Mahak climb down, at around 10 in the morning, with help from female police officers. “The police’s main objective was to get the young woman down safely, and we achieved it”, the police station chief said.
