Hyderabad: The police in Telangana’s Ranga Reddy district on Monday rescued a 12-year-old girl, who was forcibly married to a 35-year-old man by her parents after being misled that she was participating in a family function.
The incident happened at the girl’s village of Velicharla of Kesampet block near Shadnagar, about 50 km away from Hyderabad three days ago. The girl’s family hails from Papireddiguda village of the same block.
Keshampet sub-inspector of police Praveen Kumar told HT that the family of the child-bride and that of the man both hailed from Budaga Jangam community, a Scheduled Caste group and were very poor.
“The girl, who doesn’t have any formal education, lodged a complaint with us this morning with the help of local Anganwadi workers and other villagers. She told us that her parents took her to the house of her cousin (nephew of her mother) on the pretext of attending a family function, where she was forced to tie the knot with the older man,” he said.
He said the girl appeared to be psychologically disturbed and had given incoherent responses to queries. The parents, however, told the police that the bridegroom himself had taken her to his home and married her.
{{/usCountry}}He said the girl appeared to be psychologically disturbed and had given incoherent responses to queries. The parents, however, told the police that the bridegroom himself had taken her to his home and married her.
{{/usCountry}}“We have booked a case under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and also Protection of Children from Sexual Offices (POCSO) Act against the groom,” Praveen Kumar said, adding that the girl was handed over to the Integrated Child Development Society (ICDS) authorities.
ICDS supervisor D Vijayalakshmi said during the counselling, the girl told the authorities that she was not interested in marriage, but her parents had forced to her to tie the knot with her distant cousin. “They took me to his house stating that there was a function at his place. After we went there, they got me married to him,” she said.
The ICDS official said the girl was being shifted to Sakhi, a women and child welfare home, at Vanasthalipuram. “The marriage was not consummated, as she returned to her home on Sunday night. Since it is a child marriage, it will be declared as null and void,” Vijayalakshmi added.