Indian couple trolled over skin colour after wedding video goes viral

Geeta Pandey,BBC Correspondentand

Vishnukant Tiwari,BBC Hindi

Rishabh Rajput and Sonali Chouksey

Rishabh Rajput and Sonali Chouksey were married last month

Rishabh Rajput and Sonali Chouksey met in college 11 years ago, fell in love and married last month.

Photos and videos from their colourful wedding showed the happy couple from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh performing rituals and posing in their finery.

But when they shared their happiest moment on social media, the congratulatory messages came peppered with “jokes and memes” with trolls comparing and criticising the couple over the groom’s skin colour.

In India, where obsession with fair skin colour is well documented and can sometimes even have tragic consequences, the groom faced intense online shaming and was called names for his “darker skin colour”.

The trolls did not spare the bride either, with many suggesting she had married him “for his money”.

“She must have had some compulsion,” one wrote. Another suggested she couldn’t be happy with a husband like that. Some labelled her a “gold-digger,” claiming she married him for wealth or a secure government job with perks. One comment suggested that Mr Rajput’s father must be “a government minister”.

The couple, who married on 23 November, have since gone viral because of the trolling – and their response, as they addressed the criticism head-on. They have been sought out by local media and given scores of interviews in the past two weeks.

“People were making jokes and memes and it felt very wrong,” Mr Rajput told BBC Hindi from his home in Jabalpur.

“It was our moment and we had waited for it so many years. It was supposed to be a happy moment, but when I saw people’s reactions, I was really shocked,” he said.

“In so many years that we have been together, no-one had ever told us that we were a mismatch because I have dark complexion while she is fairer,” he added.

BBC Hindi

Sonali Chouksey and Rishabh Rajput met in college in 2014 and fell in love

The nasty comments left the couple – who both work in private companies – reeling.

Ms Chouksey admitted that such comments “bothered” her. “You think – is this is how people are perceiving us? When they say nasty things about him or call me a gold-digger, it irritates me.”

In a post on Instagram, Mr Rajput addressed the trolls: “Sorry to disappoint you. I’m not a government employee, but I work hard for my family and want to give them a good, dignified life.”

He added that Sonali fell in love with him when he had nothing. “From college till today, she has stood with me through every good and bad moment. People’s negative opinions mean nothing to me,” he wrote.

Mr Rajput also addressed the issue of colourism in the comments, saying he had faced colour discrimination his whole life.

“I know very well that I have a dark complexion. But in my wife’s eyes, I am trying to be the best husband I can be, and that is what matters the most. There is no need to speak wrongly about my family.”

Mr Rajput said he pushed back when the trolls began commenting on one of the photos that also had his mother and his and his wife’s sisters.

“I did not like the fact that they targeted my family. I want to tell them, you are a nobody. And you have no right to target – or troll – anyone’s family,” he said.

The couple, together since meeting in a 2014 college zoology class, say outsiders shouldn’t judge their lives.

“Our relationship began a year later and we knew from then that one day we would be married. Those who are commenting on our relationship by looking at a 30-second video don’t know that it captures 11 years of hard work that we have put into it,” says Mr Rajput.

“Sonali had always manifested that when we get married, our entire village should witness it. But today, it seems like the whole world is watching it,” he says.

That attention, the couple agree, feels good in a way. But the comments, Ms Chouksey adds, are hurting their families. “For people, it may be just something they watch on social media, but it’s our life. And it can destroy someone’s family.”

The couple have also addressed colourism in several of their interviews.

“We live in India where people from different regions have different skin colour. And fair skin doesn’t necessarily make someone a good person. So, how can we judge someone on the basis of their skin colour?” asks Ms Chouksey.

Mr Rajput says “about 70-80% people in India have darker skin tones, but the Indian mentality is that fairer is better. It’s time to change that notion”.

And for those who say the couple are a mismatch, he has a question: “When you look at us, do we look even remotely unhappy to you? We don’t. Because we have what most people don’t have. I have her and she has me.”