Several peculiar marital incidents recently unfolded in Asia, with at least one party in each pair experiencing a sudden change of heart.

In one incident reported by The Star, a bride in India shocked wedding guests when she abruptly removed her thaali, a sacred thread that is tied around a bride’s neck during a wedding ceremony.

The thaali is typically removed when either the husband or the wife dies, or if they divorce.

The drama unfolded when the bride threw the thaali into the crowd, repeatedly asserting her dislike for the groom. Despite her family’s attempts to calm her down, she remained resolute.

Police were called in to manage the situation and eventually escorted the bride and her family from the premises. The groom remained unfazed.

Little is known about the bride except that she is a graduate, and that her parents had arranged her marriage to a bank employee in Bengaluru in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. She reportedly had not objected when the match was first proposed.

In a surprising twist, the groom’s family quickly found another woman from among their relatives and proceeded with the wedding in the same hall.

In another incident, a wedding ceremony in Indonesia took an unexpected turn when the groom fled, leaving his bride at the altar. The incident, which took place on Aug 29, was filmed. It has since been making the rounds on social media.

To save the bride – who wished to be known only by her initials, S.A. – and her family from further embarrassment, the groom’s father stepped in to marry her. The bride’s family had reportedly spent some 25 million rupiah (S$2,200) on the wedding.

S.A.’s older brother told the Ternate Tribune that his sister and the groom, known as Isra, had been in a fairly long relationship.

He added that Isra had even been caught sneaking into his sister’s room during the courtship.

In a more distressing event in India, a husband tied up his wife with a rope and threw her into a well for not paying him a dowry of 500,000 rupees (S$8,200).

The man, identified as Rakesh Gir, had filmed himself in the act and sent the video to his wife’s relatives, who called the police. Gir had been harassing his wife, known as Usha, for her dowry, which led to frequent disputes.

The incident took place on Aug 20 in the Neemuch area of Madhya Pradesh in central India, the local news media reported. Usha was rescued by the police, while her husband was arrested.