NT Exclusive: Child bride at 15! Happens in IT city too

Praveen Kumar| NT 

She’s only 15 years old, but that didn’t stop either her mother or a marriage broker - also a woman - from forcing the young teen into marrying a man who is almost ten years older. On Sunday, exactly two months after the nuptials in late August, conducted in a temple on the outskirts of the city, a child’s helpline began ringing off the hook. 

The scared, incoherent voice on the other end of the line blurted out the story and quickly cut the call. Was it the young bride? Was it a friend? Either way, it was somebody who knew the teen’s marriage was a violation of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, and acted as soon as he or she gathered up the courage to recount what had happened. 

Within minutes of the call to the helpline, officials attached to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) set out to track down the  victim and record her statement. Once that had been done, the CWC filed a complaint with a women police station in the city.

In her statement, the victim claims she was married without her consent.  An officer, privy to the details of the case said: “The victim’s mother is a single parent. The wedding happened at a temple in the outskirts of the city when there were still Covid related restrictions in place. The girl had passed SSLC and was at home. The victim’s husband who is a major, along with his mother and another woman who brought the proposal have been booked. So has the victim’s mother, who has been booked for not saying no to her daughter’s marriage, despite knowing full well that she is a minor and that the young girl did not want to get married.”  

The complaint against the four has been registered by a member of CWC. The victim’s marks card has also been verified to cross check her actual age.  

“The case is still under investigation. No arrests have been made yet. Of the four accused, three are women,” said an officer who is part of investigations. All four including the husband, face imprisonment and will be jailed for a minimum term of two years with a fine. A case under sections 9 and 11 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act has been registered against the quartet.