The ROPES Child Helpline and Madanapalle police thwarted a child marriage at Gandhipuram in Madanapalle rural mandal on Friday, amid protest by parents of the bride and bridegroom, both minors.
Acting on a tip-off that a marriage of a 13-year-old Dalit girl from Gandhipuram with a 17-year-old boy from Devanakamma Palle was being performed, ROPES Chairman Dr. K. Dhanasekharan and police rushed to the spot and stopped the proceedings. However, the parents of both the sides staged a protest for around two hours, opposing the interference of the police. They even tried to take away the minors from the place. Later, police forcibly shifted them to the local police station.
Undertakings from the parents were taken that the girl’s marriage would not be performed till she became 18 and that she would be allowed to continue her studies as she was forced to quit school after 8th class.
