Alert volunteers of the Childline and District Child Protection Unit successfully stopped a marriage of a minor, as her parents were trying to get her married to a 22-year-old man at Korwar village in Chitapur taluk of Kalaburagi district on Tuesday. As per information on the wedding invitation card, the marriage was scheduled to be held on Wednesday at Annaveerabhadreshwara temple in Korwar. The venue was, however, shifted to the bridegroom’s place to avoid any possibility of disruption from the Child Welfare teams.
Though the venue had been shifted, the officials received definite clues about the marriage of the 16-year-old minor girl with Anand Donni of Kapoor village in Kalaburagi taluk.
The officials visited the bridegroom’s residence on Tuesday afternoon and stopped the marriage after explaining to those concerned the legal impediments involved in getting an under-aged girl married to a youth and about the consequences of violating Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006.
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Child Welfare Committee member Vittal Chikkani said that the team advised the parents of bridegroom to conduct the marriage only after the girl completed 18 years of age. Written statements were obtained from the parents of both the bride and bridegroom stating that they would not continue with the marriage proposal for now.