Love stories are often adventurous, clandestine, and risky. But in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a tale that nearly cost a young man his life. A boyfriend, who lived seven houses from his girlfriend, then stayed locked inside a trunk for 45 minutes in an attempt to avoid being caught by her suspicious aunt. What started as a clandestine meeting soon became a dramatic rescue with family members and the police.
The young woman spotted an opening on Friday morning. Her family had gone to work, putting her alone at home. She called her boyfriend, who lived nearby, to come over. By the afternoon he arrived at her house, ignorant of the trouble to come. For a long time, everything appeared to be fine. But soon, her aunt, who lived in the building next door, assumed she heard strange sounds emanating from the young woman’s room. Confident someone had come in, she went over and knocked on the door.
In #UttarPradesh's #Kanpur, love almost cost the life of a young man who came to his girlfriend's place just seven houses away from where he lives.
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) January 24, 2026
The woman out of desperation hid her boyfriend in a box (trunk) for 45 minutes to avoid being caught by her aunt, the police said.… pic.twitter.com/BlRp8RWSGg
The woman panicked. Afraid she’d be found out, she made her boyfriend hide inside a substantial iron trunk and locked it. She then stepped inside calmly, and said hello to her aunt, pretending nothing was wrong. But the aunt wasn’t impressed. “I saw him going inside. He can’t just vanish into thin air,” she later informed the police. Consistent with her quest for truth, she had the main gate locked and called the woman’s mother and brother home.
The family began to search the house thoroughly. They searched under the beds, stashed cupboards, outside the roof etc--yet there was no one home. Still, the young man was trapped within the trunk, he was sweating and struggling to breathe. Almost 45 minutes passed before the family heard loud banging sounds coming from the box. It was the man seeking to break out.
The woman declined to open the trunk, saying her clothes were inside but when asked to open it she refused. The family started to become more nervous and wanted to report it. They arrived promptly, and at last the police arrived and forced the woman to open the box. With trembling hands she opened it and her boyfriend came out drenched in sweat, struggled for air and threatened to faint. And in the video that was taken then even the policemen laughed at the strange scene.
But for the family, it was no laughing matter. Angry, they rushed to pull the man and whip him but the police intervened and restrained them instead. The woman’s mother, angry as ever, shouted to the officers, “Sir take this man away, take this woman too, put both of them in jail.”
The young man and woman were put into custody by police. A police officer later confirmed that the man had been charged with “disturbing peace.” He said the woman’s family could file a formal complaint and take more serious action if it could.
The case, which struck me as a little bizarre, underscores the risk young couples in conservative households face in their marriage-free world. But the woman’s desperation to cover her boyfriend reflects the fear of social stigma and family anger. Yet the scene of the man who was imprisoned in a locked trunk and almost smothered by it but could've died inside a trunk, is almost tragic and provides a testament to show us how secrecy can backfire and be very dangerous.
The story has spread fast in Kanpur, where it caught on like wildfire: It’s shocking how far the woman went to save her secret, and many people have been taken aback. While they find out the way to hear this statement is to make them laugh at the sheer lunacy of it all, others view the situation with all seriousness and they recognize the pressure young people feel when love collides with family expectations, to a degree some might think it is not, it reminds them of how tough it can be to be a teenager and show what you’re a boy.
The Kanpur trunk incident is not only a story of drama, it mirrors the social realities of that time. In one small home, love, secrecy, fear and family honor collided, leading to a scene that may have ended in tragedy. Fortunately, the young man survived, but the episode begs deeper questions about trust, freedom and the perils of hiding the truth.
