16-year-old helps stop best friend's child marriage

A 16-year-old girl from took on the society to prove that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Karan Choudhury reports.

A 16-year-old girl from took on the society to prove that a friend in need is a friend indeed.

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A class 11 student, she took on the society to save her best friend and classmate, also a 16-year-old, from child marriage.

The wedding of the girl was supposed to take place in northwest Delhi on Thursday but was called off at the last moment after the police intervened. She was to marry a 22-year-old man from the Capital.

According to police, the girl's family came from Rajasthan to get their daughter married in the Saraswati Vihar area. Initially, a civil rights group received the tip-off about the child marriage.

"It was the girl's friend of the same age who called us from Jaipur to inform us that her friend was being married off in the Capital. She sent us the girl's birth certificate that proved that she was underage. We immediately called the area police station and told them to take action in the case," said Moushumi Basu, secretary, People's Union for Democratic Rights.

The police then went to the spot and stopped the wedding. However, no case has been registered in the matter till now.

The wedding was to take place on DDA grounds in Netaji Subhash Place in Pitampura.

"We are investigating the matter. When we went to the spot, the girl's family said they had called off the wedding. However, we have rounded them up and are questioning them. The girl is safe," said a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity.

The girl is from Ramgarh in Jaipur. The phone number of relatives mentioned on the girl's wedding invitation claimed they were not aware of any such wedding.

"They are our relatives. I do not know the girl's age or the fact that she was getting married," said a relative.