What’s the story?
Olympic bronze medallist and Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, who is set to tie the knot tomorrow, garnered widespread admiration after denying to accept dowry from his in-laws. However, after reports emerged that he accepted a sum of Re 1 from his fiance’s family as 'shagun', he was questioned and received a lot of flak on various social media platforms as to why did he even accepted a single rupee.
Dutt replied with a tweet of his own, saying, “In ‘ Sanatana Dharma’, on any auspicious occasion gifts are exchanged as good omen and the one rupee I have accepted is nothing but for goodwill. It is not a dowry, so I request people to choose their words wisely.”
While talking to Sportskeeda on the matter, Dutt said, "Main jab chota tha tab meri beheno ke shaadi ke liye mere family ko dowry dena padta tha, tabse main decide kia ki mera shaadi hoga toh yeh sab nahi karunga. Ab jab ho raha hai main 1 rupey shagun ke liye le raha hoon. Apne dharm main yahi bola jaa raha hai."
This roughly translates to, “When I was younger, my family had to give dowries for my sisters’ marriages, and it was then that I decided that when I will tie the knot, I will not accept any sort of dowry.
“The one rupee I have accepted is for goodwill and I’m simply following what my religion states.”
In case you didn’t know
Yogeshwar Dutt etched his name in Indian wrestling folklore when he overcame a possible career-ending injury to win a gold medal at the Delhi Commonwealth games in 2010. The grappler then went on to win the bronze medal in the 60 kg freestyle category at the 2012 London Games.
Dutt’s flurry of medals didn’t stop there as he laid claim to the gold medals at 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the 2014 Incheon Asian Games as well, both in the 65 kg freestyle category.
Heart of the matter
The veteran grappler got engaged to the bride-to-be Sheetal on January 14, and as a mark of goodwill accepted a Re 1 coin from the bride’s family. The ring ceremony took place in Sonipat, Haryana, with members of both families present to bless the couple.
Dutt’s mother echoed the sentiment of the athlete and went on to state that they won’t be accepting anything more than the solitary rupee from Sheetal’s family. The 34-year-old will be marrying the daughter of Haryana’s Congress politician Jaibhagwan Sharma on January 16.
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What next?
Dutt is all set to start a new chapter in his life tomorrow, and although he missed out on a medal at the Rio Olympics, he will be hoping to start afresh after his marriage and win many more accolades for the country.
Sportskeeda’s take
Dowry system is one of the most prevalent and deep-rooted social evils in our country and even though the Supreme Court has made it illegal, the ‘ritual’ is still followed by many.
While we leave it to the readers to decide whether Dutt is right or wrong, we, at Sportskeeda, wish him a happy married life with the hope that he goes on to bag even more medals for the country in the future.
Tweet Speak
Here are some of the tweets where, while some people are questioning Dutt for accepting a rupee, some are praising him for not accepting dowry.
