In the novel, One Arranged Murder, Chetan Bhagat significantly explored the contemporary Indian society and the practices of marriage within the delineation of crime, psychological distress, social anxiety and technology. The novel portrays the traditional cultural values with the contrast of the pressures of modern urban life. This research paper, titled “Tradition under Surveillance: Marriage, Family, and Social Pressure in One Arranged Murder,” explores a thematic analysis of societal expectation on marriage and family relationships. It also exposes the personal bonds within the family and how they are influenced and regulated by the social concerns, status and the fear of societal honour. It stresses that, the role of family is not only a stabilizing force but also a basis of psychological pressure. These pressures lead to emotional conflict, secrecy, and moral instability, ultimately leading to criminal outcomes within the narrative. Societal and familial constraints restrained the individual’s freedom of choice making and compel them to conform to follow the traditional practices of marriage and uprightness. Bhagat used crime and murder as the tools for his narrative strategy to reveal the youth’s survival struggles to fulfill the family relationships and their ambitions and passions. To unveil this, he used the murder investigation as a symbolic tool. The author blends popular fiction with the anxieties of a generation caught between inherited traditions and modern technological realities. This paper also takes the way of portrayal of marriage and family as vulnerable institutions under continuous surveillance in the novel One Arranged Murder. The novel ultimately critiques contemporary urban culture, suggesting that excessive social pressure and loss of privacy can lead to moral disintegration and psychological distress. This study contributes to scholarly discourse on Indian English popular fiction by highlighting its relevance as a mirror of social transformation.