Two brothers from the Indian state of Himachal have spoken out openly about the public criticism on social media regarding their marriage to the same woman.

According to Indian media, two brothers from Shalai village in Sirmour district of Himachal got married to the same woman under a unique ritual of marriage, this ritual is locally called Jodi Dara or Jodi Dar Paratha.

Weeks after getting married, the two brothers have spoken out openly about the ceremony and the public criticism on social media.

Two brothers, Pradeep and Kapil Negi, belonging to the Hatti tribe of Himachal, say that the Jodi Dar Paratha ritual has been going on for generations and this tradition has not been imposed on us.

Pradeep Negi has said in a video posted on Facebook that it is not the first time that we have married under this tradition, it has been practiced in the past and is still practiced.

Their brother Kapil Negi says that all three of us (both brothers and their bride) got married with our consent and it was our mutual decision.

Kapil has said that in other states there are such traditions that are imposed on people but here we do not have such a tradition, we are not pressured to follow this tradition, we got married with our own consent.

These two brothers from Shalai village in Sirmour district of Himachal got married to the same woman on July 12, which was not only attended by hundreds of villagers, but it also became a topic of discussion on social media.

In Himachal, the Jodi Dara ritual is still recognized under the revenue laws of the state, according to both the brothers, this tradition is not limited to Himachal but is also prevalent in the Jaunsar Bawar area of Uttarakhand.

Talking about this rare tradition, Pradeep Negi said that the brothers and the bride had agreed to the marriage and it was not imposed on us, both the families were ready for this marriage.

He said that many people are abusing us on our pictures and videos on social media, I want to tell them that do not think that you are abusing me, we are happy with our lives, with this marriage we are promoting our tradition and culture, we belong to a poor family.

Kapil said that we had no intention of creating a Facebook page and we did not do this marriage to become famous, nor was there any such intention, but this news spread all over India, we got married in a normal way.

Adding to this, Pradeep said that the only purpose of this marriage was to stay together and love each other, we pray that this love between us brothers remains.