Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A joint team of the women and child development department, the district administration and other agencies stopped two child marriages on Friday. The WCD and district administration had stepped up vigil to curb child marriages that take around Ekadashi. The WCD has set up two teams and district administration has constituted one team headed by an SDM to tackle child marriages.
A control room has also been set up at WCD where people can inform the officials about child marriages.
The WCD received a complaint that a family in Indore was attempting to marry off a 16-year-old girl on Friday, but the authorities stopped them on time.
According to WCD project officer Chitra Yadav, pre-wedding ceremonies were taking place at a home in the Kamathipura area to marry off the girl to a 26-year-old man from Ujjain. The team from the department and police officers rushed to the girl's residence after learning about the wedding and they ended the ceremony.
The girl claimed that her father, who passed away recently, had arranged the marriage.
The officials said that they gave the girl's family a warning about the repercussions they would face for child marriage and made them sign a pledge promising not to marry their daughter until she turned eighteen.
According to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, there is a two-year prison sentence, a one-lakh rupee fine, or both for child marriage.
In another incident, a complaint was registered at MIG police station regarding a child marriage to be held in Rustam ki Chawl. A 16-year-old girl was to tie the knot with an 18-year-old boy, who was a resident of Jhansi.
Based on the complaint, MIG police station sub-inspector Seema Sharma and anti-child marriage flying squad in-charge Mahendra Pathak approached the girl's family and counselled them. During the discussion, it came out that due to some problems going on in the family, the girl’s mother wanted to get her daughter married as soon as possible. The complainant, however, told the officials that the marriage was taking place under some kind of fear and pressure.
Pathak said that after discussing with the groom's side, it transpired that the groom’s age was only 18 years and they were not aware of the rules. The groom’s mother was ill, due to which he wanted to get married as soon as possible. After learning about the rules and provisions of punishment, he refused to marry.
The girl's mother said that her daughter was born and educated in Vadodara, Gujarat, and they have no proof regarding her age but she was born on 1 July 2006, according to which her age is only 17 years. When the girl's family was informed about the Child Marriage Prohibition Act, they immediately gave an affidavit cancelling the marriage and also asked the groom's side not to marry until both the children attained adulthood.
Two child labourers rescued
Women and Child Development department under the leadership of district programme officer Ramniwas Budholiya, Labour department, Chhoti Gwaltoli police, Special Juvenile Police unit, AAS organisation and Kailash Satyarthi Children Foundation Access to Justice Project rescued two child labourers from two garages in Chhoti Gwaltoli area.
The children are residents of Chandan Nagar, Indore and they told the officials that they work at the garage from 10 am to 8 pm to repair vehicles and are paid Rs 4000 to 5000 every month. They were working in Ajanta Auto Garage and Rafiq Auto Garage and had been employed by Wahid and Parvez. The children were presented before the Child Welfare Committee.
According to CWC chairperson Pallavi Porwal, the children were handed over to their parents with a warning to not make them work again.
