Officials from Childline, Child Protection Unit (CPU), Social Welfare department and local police rescued three prospective child brides by stopping their marriages at three different places in the district on Monday.
On being alerted through Childline helpline 1098 on Monday morning, few hours before the marriages were scheduled to take place, officials with the support of local police and police from the anti-human trafficking wing stopped the marriages and rescued the child brides, who included a 16-year-old girl studying plus one.
Officials said the 16-year-old girl was to marry M Solairaj, 27, a construction worker at Pudukulam, near Kamuthi when the officials with the help of local police stopped the marriage. The child bride was in full bridal make up when police attached to the Mandalamanickam police station intervened at the eleventh hour and helped the officials to stop the marriage.
The rescued child bride was produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on Tuesday, when parents of the girl and the groom gave written undertakings that they would not go ahead with the marriage till the girl completed 18 years. Officials said the girl would be persuaded to continue her studies.
In another incident, officials stopped the marriage of a 17-year-old Muslim girl, a class XII drop out at Melakottai, near here after overcoming stiff resistance from the parents. The girl was to marry R Fayil Mohamed, 29, at the local ‘Pallivasal’ when the officials stopped the marriage. After stopping the marriage, parents of the girl refused to produce her before the CWC for counselling. When the officials explained the reasons and repercussions, they agreed to produce the girl before CWC on July 11, they said.
In the third incident, officials stopped the marriage of a 17-year-old girl, studying first year in a college. The single parent child was to marry B. Uru Mareeswaran, 26, from Movalur, near Nainarkoil when the officials stopped the marriage. She was produced before the CWC on Monday and counselled to complete her graduation, officials said.
