Overview

• Sunita Chauhan, a member of the Hatti tribe, publicly married Pradeep and Kapil Negi in Shillai village from July 12 to 14 under the ancient Jodidara custom to prevent land fragmentation.
• Despite India’s national ban on polyandry, Himachal Pradesh’s revenue code grants Scheduled Tribe communities like the Hatti legal exemptions for the practice.
• The newlyweds have retreated from media after facing hundreds of global interview requests and social media scrutiny since videos of the three-day ceremony went viral.
• Tribal leaders and state officials argue the wedding preserves ancestral land rights and respects individual consent, while women’s rights groups condemn it as an exploitative violation of women’s fundamental rights.
• Under Jodidara rules, children born to the throuple are legally assigned to the eldest brother or allocated randomly when biological paternity cannot be determined.