Upset with the prospects of discontinuing her studies, a 12-year-old girl alerted the child helpline to stop her marriage with a 22-year-old man in Prakasam district on Tuesday.
Upset with her parents, both daily wage labourers, who were keen on conducting her marriage, the girl, a Standard VII student, called up the helpline (1098) and poured out her woes. Soon, a team of social activists, led by B.V. Sagar, rushed to her residence at Kunipalem, near V.V. Palem, and stopped the marriage, which was scheduled for Wednesday.
Incidentally, the girl, a student of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya at Kandukur, had noted down the helpline number in her notebook during an awareness session conducted by Childline India Foundation NGO partner HELP at the school recently. Her parents gave an undertaking not to conduct her wedding before she attained 18 years of age.