A WhatsApp message sent in time by a child bride to the authorities helped prevent her marriage with a 22-year-old man at Pittavaripalem in Chirala on Friday.
The parents of the girl allegedly misled the Chirala Sub-Inspector saying that they will not perform the marriage even while going ahead with the marriage arrangements. They allegedly kept her in a secluded place and refused to hand her over to the police.
Chirala Deputy Superintendent of Police Prem Kajal, to whom the message was forwarded by the Childline India Foundation NGO partner HELP, monitored the situation from her office. She motored down to Pittavaripalem and used her persuasive skills as the marriage party refused to hand over the bride. She thwarted the marriage in the early hours and sent the girl to a rescue home.
The 14-year-old girl who had studied up to seventh standard wanted to continue her studies. But her parents did not send her to school on June 12 when it reopened after summer vacation. Instead they fixed the marriage with a man from Epurupalem, said HELP Programme officer B.V. Sagar, who received the message from the girl and immediately rushed to the place along with a team of social activists from HELP. However, the friends and relatives of the child bride and the bridegroom were in no mood to relent even as the activists made it clear they had to wait for four more years to solemnise the marriage.
On the orders the District Child Welfare Committee, the girl was put in a rescue home ''Bala Sadan'' at Machavaram, near N.G.Padu, Mr.Sagar said, adding, “We will arrange for the girl to continue her education.”
