Patna: She travelled nearly 13,000km from the United States, crossed countries and reached Nepal to marry the man she had fallen in love with online. But a wedding-shopping trip to Bihar’s Kishanganj district ended with the American woman and her Nepalese boyfriend being detained for questioning by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) after she could not produce a valid Indian visa.The couple were later handed over to Nepalese authorities and allowed to return to Nepal. They had planned to marry on Sept 21 and had travelled to Dighalbank bazaar to shop for wedding clothes and other items.During questioning, the 32-year-old American woman told SSB personnel that she had travelled thousands of kilometres to marry the man she met on social media.“We met through a social networking site and gradually fell in love. I have come 13,000 km away to marry my boyfriend. Our marriage is scheduled for Sept 21,” she told the security personnel.The woman had travelled from the US to Bhutan and later entered Nepal by road to meet her 31-year-old boyfriend, a resident of Gheladuba in Jhapa district of Nepal.The two had reportedly been in contact for around three years through messages and video calls before deciding to marry with the consent of their families.Dighalbank SHO Bipin Kumar Singh said the woman’s parents were originally from Bhutan and had spent around 12 years in a refugee camp in Nepal before shifting to the US, where she was born. She therefore holds an American passport, he said.The couple had planned a traditional wedding in Nepal on Sept 21. On Monday, they travelled from Nepal towards Dighalbank in Kishanganj to purchase clothes, jewellery and other wedding items.At the border, the woman approached an SSB jawan and asked whether she could go to Dighalbank market for shopping. The personnel asked her to produce a valid Indian visa and questioned both of them.The couple told the SSB that they were trying to enter India through a rural route near the Mohamari area only to shop for the wedding. During verification of their documents, identities and stated purpose of travel, SSB personnel found no illegal or objectionable material in their possession, police said.“After their identities and claims were verified by the security agencies and local police, the two were handed over to officials of the Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) deployed along the border. They were subsequently allowed to proceed towards their destination in Nepal. She had a 90-day tourist visa for Nepal,” the SHO said.
