3 held for minor’s marriage, two weddings stopped

The girl was rescued earlier this month after district social welfare officer Christina Dorothy received information about the marriage. She was handed over to the district child welfare committee, which then lodged a complaint against the girl’s parents Sekar and Lakshmi, Pandian, the groom, and his parents Karunanidhi and Roja.

While police arrested Sekar, Lakshmi and Roja, the groom and his father went underground. The arrested persons were remanded in custody.

In a similar case, a team of officials from revenue and social welfare departments along with police stopped two minor marriages in different villages in Vellore district on Wednesday.

In the first incident, Collector SA Raman received information about the proposed marriage of a 13-year-old girl, a Class 8 student, with her relative, who was 15 years elder to her, at Kikkothur tribal village near Anaicut. The Collector ordered revenue officials to investigate the matter. As the marriage reception ended on Tuesday night and the wedding was to be solemnised on Wednesday, officials reached the village and verified the girl’s age. When they found out that she was a minor, they ordered the marriage to be stopped. Social welfare department officials then counselled the parents on the need for the girl to attain marriageable age.

In the second incident, a marriage arranged between a youth from Gudiyattam and an underage girl in Vellore’s Salavanpet was stopped following the intervention of the Vellore all women police station, who received a complaint. During investigations, cops found that the complaint to be authentic and sought the help of social welfare department staff to counsel the parents.