A Sri Lankan couple is under investigation for deploying hundreds of schoolchildren to carry the train of the bride’s sari in scorching heat during a wedding ceremony, in an attempt to create a Guinness world record.
About 250 students from the state-owned Alwathugoda Sarath Ekanayake Primary School were transported in buses to be present at the event at 2.30 in the morning to carry the bride’s almost four km long sari train as she and the groom walked down a main road in the central district of Kandy on Thursday.
The bride, Sajini Priyangika Suraweera, is a beautician by profession. The groom is named Ruwan Pushpakumara. There were 10 bride maids and 10 best men in addition to 100 flower girls. All the girls are studying in grade one to five. There were no reports of how much the mammoth sari cost.
The sari was transported in a lorry to a place near Gannoruwa Agriculture Research Institute. The unraveling of the sari took more than three hours according to reports. The Guinness Committee checked its length with Chief Guest, Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake, and Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of Kandy district in attendance. The pupils were from a school named after the provincial chief minister.
The National Child Protection Authority said it was investigating the incident. “What they [the wedding party] did is a violation of child rights,” an official said. “Depriving children of education, risking their security and harming their dignity are criminal offences.”
Following public outrage over making hundreds of school children toil in the scorching heat, Sri Lanka’s Education Ministry too said it would have a probe. “What has happened is totally unacceptable,” Secretary to the Ministry said. While speaking to the press, the school principal has expressed his happiness over children taking part in a historical event.
In March 2017, Gujarat made it to the Guinness Records for the longest sari, at about 3.055 km long, that officials arranged for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bharuch. The sari can fit into a match box, according to Hindu news paper reports.
