Bhopal: 56-yr-old Sarpanch hires chopper to marry minor; admin nixes plans

Morena: A middle-aged Sarpanch’s plans to marry a minor girl were nixed by the district administration at the last moment. He had hired a helicopter to bring the bride home. However, after the administration ordered a probe, it was discovered that the girl was only 13. The collector then cancelled the permission for the landing of helicopter and the girl was given in the custody of the woman and child welfare department.

Jagganath Singh Mawai, 56, the Sarpanch of village Panchayat Bahrara in Kailaras Tehsil of the district had hired a helicopter at a cost of Rs 2 lakh from a Delhi-based company to bring the bride home from the nearby village Khedahussainpur, where she lived with her family. He had paid Rs 50,000 as advance.

The news of the Sarpanch’s travelling to his would-be bride’s village and back by chopper spread like wildfire in the rural area and so did the news that the girl was a minor. The Sarpanch is already married and wanted to re-marry as he had no child.

The marriage was fixed for December 12 and the baarat was to leave a day earlier. When the news reached the district administration, a team led by Mrinal Meena, the SDM of Sabalgarh visited the bride’s home. The team included policemen and officials of the woman and child welfare department. The family members of the girl denied that she was minor. She was brought to the tehsil headquarters for medical examination and her class one mark-sheet was dug out. That led to the discovery that her age was only 12 years. After that, she was taken into custody and the administration arranged for her counselling. The family members of the girl had got her medical examination done on November 30, in which she was declared a major. The police are now examining whether the doctor deliberately provided a wrong report.

I am 45. I am a young man. The admin might have stopped my marriage but the girl wants to marry me only. She will jump into a well if she is not allowed to marry me.
– Jagganath Singh Mawai, Sarpanch, Bahrara.

I visited the girl’s village to determine her age. We have her Class 1 mark-sheet in our possession. It shows her age to be 13 years. We have arranged counselling for her. For the present, we’ve stopped the marriage.
– Mrinal Meena, SDM, Sabalgarh.