UP Woman Marries Lover via Video Call After Climbing Mobile Phone Tower

The woman holds fort for around four hours, standing all on her own against unwilling families of both sides, as police and neighbours play negotiators.

PTI, Oct 23, 2026, Bahraich : An 18-year-old woman adamant on marrying her lover climbed a mobile phone tower at a village in Uttar Pradesh on Friday morning and came down only after her marriage was solemnised via a video call with the man who was hundreds of kilometres away in Mumbai.

The woman held fort for around four hours, standing all on her own against unwilling families of both sides, as police and neighbours played negotiators.

Motipur SHO Brahma Gond told PTI that Saida wanted to marry Nuruddin, 21, who is also from her village but currently in Mumbai for work.

Villagers said Nuruddin is from the Pathan community while Saida is from the Churhihaar community. Nuruddin's family were opposed to the marriage, likely due to the so-called status gap between the two, they said.

Police said they received information that a young woman had climbed a mobile phone tower at 6 am on Friday. Police arrived at the scene and tried to persuade her to come down, but she remained adamant, insisting on 'nikah'.

A crowd gathered in the village, seeing the woman on the tower.

She refused to come down, even when her family, the villagers and the police requested her to do so. Subsequently, police initiated discussions with the families of both parties in an effort to reach an agreement.

The SHO said that following consent from both parties, a 'qazi' was summoned and contact was established via a video call with Nuruddin in Mumbai. Once he agreed, the ‘qazi’ conducted the 'nikah' rituals online.

Shortly after, at around 10 am, Saida climbed down the tower.

The SHO commended the family members and neighbours for their role in facilitating the talks required to solemnise the marriage.

"The police's primary objective was to ensure that the woman was brought down safely, and we succeeded," he said.