The timely intervention of the teachers of a government high school helped thwart a child marriage near Chittoor on Wednesday night. The X class girl (15) has been made to resume her studies and accommodated in a social welfare hostel on Thursday.
The girl, a resident of Narasimhapalle hamlet of Thavanampalle mandal, stopped coming to the municipal high school at Santhapeta in Chittoor district since October 10. Her class teacher’s efforts to find out the reason for her prolonged absence through her classmates went in vain. Though her friends went to the village and tried to contact the girl, the latter’s parents kept bluffing with them that she was not feeling well and was admitted to a hospital in Bangalore.
On Wednesday night, the teachers came to know that the girl was going to be married to her relative, a daily wager aged about 25. The ‘muhurtham’ was set around 11.00 pm, and the information trickled in an hour before. The information was immediately passed on to the Rural Organisation for Poverty Eradication Services (ROPES) and Child Line 1098. The volunteers rushed to the village and stopped the function at the nick of the moment. As the rescue party was seen in the company of women police (She Teams), there was no resistance from the parents or relatives from both sides.
Confined to home
The girl revealed that she had been confined to home since October 10, and that the bridegroom was her paternal aunt’s son.
The girl’s parents work as farm labourers.
An undertaking was taken from both sides that they would desist from child marriage and would allow the girl to continue her studies. On her request, the officials initiated steps to accommodate her in the social welfare hostel adjoining her school.