Members of the Tamil Nadu Women Joint Council, with the help of police, stopped a child marriage on Kurangani hill near here on Sunday. The organisation leader Chitra Devi said that the council members and a police team intercepted an autorickshaw near Kurangani and rescued the minor girl.
When some relatives informed the police that the marriage was over at Vennimalai temple and the parents removed mangalsutra on seeing the police, the parents denied the charge.
In a complaint lodged by the 15-year-old girl, she stated that she had completed her secondary school education and her parents arranged her marriage with a 30-year-old man, a native of Palanichettipatti near Theni.
She had told her uncle and parents that she wanted to continue her studies and did not like to marry but their parents brushed aside her pleas and coerced her to marry the man. They beat her to get her consent.
A month ago, the Child Welfare Department officials had stopped her betrothal. Her parents had told the police that it was not a betrothal and only part of family ritual. They assured the police that they would not arrange the marriage till she attained 18 years of age and handed over a written statement at Veerpandi police station. Now, they arranged the marriage with the same man at Vennimalai temple. The girl alleged that the groom had tied the mangalya sutra. But her parents removed it from her.
She asked the police to help her continue her studies. A similar marriage was also stopped at Andipatti block last month.
