The ceremony brought the two communities together; 93 Hindu couples were wed per Vedic rituals and eight Muslim couples solemnised their nikah before clerics. ( credit:vinayagrawalpari/Fb)A businessman from Uttar Pradesh who grew up without a sister has found a unique way to fill that gap – by becoming a brother to 101 Hindu and Muslim women from poor families and getting them married with dignity.Vinay Agarwal, who runs a snacks business, organised the mass wedding for underprivileged couples at Khirni Bagh in Shahjahanpur on Sunday.The ceremony brought the two communities together; 93 Hindu couples were wed per Vedic rituals and eight Muslim couples solemnised their nikah before clerics. The day was celebrated with pomp and splendour.Brides were decked up at local beauty parlours and the 101 couples were brought to the venue in 101 cars, while families celebrated together in a shared festive pandal.Agarwal said the absence of a sister in his own life inspired him to help daughters from financially struggling families.He said he started helping at weddings in 2018, often turning up uninvited to offer support.On the advice of his mother Saroj Agarwal, he later made it more organised. What started with 11 girls in 2023, grew to 21 the next year and 51 thereafter. This year it reached 101, and Agarwal said the number will not go down in the coming years.Story continues below this adHe said the objective is not just to perform wedding rituals but to help couples begin their household.Each couple was gifted essential items including television, refrigerator, washing machine, bed, cupboard and other daily-use articles. His family – wife Shweta, brother Kunal, sister-in-law Neha and mother Saroj – helped in organising the event.The ceremony is held around Ram Navami to mark the birth anniversary of his late father Ashok Agarwal. Agarwal said around 200 applications were received this year and 101 brides were selected after a three-stage verification to ensure genuine need.Applications from well-off families and those for second marriages were rejected. He funds the initiative himself and does not take financial help from others.Story continues below this adWhen people offer money, he asks them to organise weddings for needy girls in their own areas instead. For many families, the event meant a wedding without debt.Twenty-four-year-old Muskan was among the brides. Her brother Shahid said their father pulls a rickshaw and their mother sells paan and supari, and the family struggles to manage even two meals a day.“Borrowing money for our sister’s wedding would have been very difficult. Here her wedding is happening with great pomp. It is by the grace of Allah,” Shahid said.Another couple, Pooja from Jamuka village and her groom Ramniwas, both differently-abled with disabilities in their legs, have no agricultural land or stable income. Their smiles after the wedding showed what the day meant to them.Story continues below this adShahjahanpur-based doctor and social worker Satya Prakash Mishra said the city is proud of the initiative and said genuine service should be done without discrimination on the basis of caste, religion or financial status.