The Childline and Social Welfare Department officials have rescued a prospective 15-year-old ‘child bride’ by stopping her marriage with a 24-year-old man, scheduled for June 15 at Devipattinam near here.
This is the second child marriage to be stopped by the officials in two days in this region. On being alerted through childline helpline ‘1098’ on Friday evening, the officials visited the girl’s house on Saturday and stopped the marriage with the help of local panchayat president Zakir Hussain and Jamath leaders as the family was reluctant to call off the marriage. The parents told the officials that they had hurriedly arranged the marriage as they suspected that the girl, who had dropped out after Class X last year, was in love with a boy and feared that she might elope with him.
Childline coordinator K. Balamurugan said that the mother of the ‘groom’ who had gone to buy textiles for the couple was summoned but she refused to call off the marriage, saying that they would admit the girl in school after marriage.
The officials, after obtaining the age certificate from the school, explained to the parents that the marriage could take place only after the girl completed 18 years. The Jamath leaders, after checking with their counterparts in Azhagankulam and Kilakarai, agreed to cooperate with the officials and convinced the parents to stop the marriage.
The officials obtained written undertakings from the parents and warned them against going ahead with the marriage.
They told the parents that the Collector had given clear instructions to register FIR and remand all those responsible if they conducted child marriages.
