Cross-border love: Sri Lankan woman ties knot with Andhra man

Amaravati, Aug 1 (IANS) In another cross-border love story, a 25-year-old woman from Sri Lanka tied the knot with a youth from Andhra Pradesh, her Facebook friend of seven years.

Vikneshwariy Sivakumara, who arrived in India on a tourist visa on July 8, married D. Lakshman, a resident of Arimakulapalle village in Chittoor district.

The couple, who had been in love for seven years, tied the knot at a temple in Venkatagirikota on July 20.

Lakshman, 24, who ekes out living as a construction worker, received his girlfriend at Chennai airport and brought her home. The Sri Lankan national wants to settle down with Lakshman in his village. She wants to get Indian citizenship so that she can live with her husband. The couple was first connected on Facebook in 2017 and since then they have been in regular touch.

Vikneshwariy is a resident of Velangudi in Sri Lanka. The friendship blossomed into love and Vikneshwariy finally decided to come to India to marry Lakshman. She had told her family members that she was going on a tour.

After marrying Lakshman, the Sri Lankan woman applied for an Aadhaar card at a local enrollment centre. Officials, who got suspicious, alerted the police and thus the marriage came to light.

The police have served a notice asking her to return to Sri Lanka before August 6, the date on which her tourist visa expires.

Chittoor Superintendent of Police Y. Rishant Reddy said they asked the Sri Lankan national to obtain a one-year visa or return when her tourist visa expires.

Vikneshwariy has applied to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) for a longer visa based marriage certificate.

This is the third cross-border marriage to hit the headlines in recent times. It comes close on the heels of Pakistan’s Seema Haider, 30, entering India illegally with her four children to marry a 22-year-old Indian man Sachin Meena whom she met through the online mobile game PUBG. In another story of cross-border love, an Indian woman travelled to Pakistan to marry her Facebook friend. Anju, 34, a mother of two children, married 29-year-old Nasrullah in a remote village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.