Police step in to stop child marriage

Manpada police stopped the wedding of a 16-year-old girl in Dombivli (East) and arrested six people under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 on Wednesday.

The police officers got a tip-off about the approximate location and time of the wedding, following which a 30-member police team was deployed in Dombivli (East). After four hours, the team found the venue in Sagarli village and stopped the wedding. The girl, who hails from Ahmednagar, was sent home while the groom, his parents and the bride’s parents along with a relative were arrested.

Among the accused are Satish Jadhav, 26, the groom; his father Sahebrao Jadhav, 54; and mother Shobha Jadhav, 48.

Assistant police inspector Maruti Andhale said he got a call from an unknown person alerting about the child marriage. He said, “We only had one-line information that a child marriage was going to take place around 1.30pm in Dombivli (East). It was already 1.00pm when we got the call and Dombivli (East) is a big area, making it difficult to locate the venue. We divided 30 officers in five teams and launched a search operation.”

After four hours of searching every marriage and community halls, police found the house where the wedding was taking place around 5pm. Andhale said, “By the time we reached Sagarli village, the wedding ceremony was completed. We asked for the girl’s birth certificate, but they didn’t have it. Our women officer spoke to the girl and found that she was around 16-years-old. Then, we arrested the groom, his parents, the girl’s parents and the uncle under Child Marriage Act, though they have all been released on bail. We have sent the girl home with her family members.”

The groom is a driver while his parents are labourers. The girl hails from the economically weaker section of the society and her parents sell vegetables in Ahmednagar.