JIVANTALA: A 13-year-old girl in her school uniform and carrying a schoolbag walked into the Jivantala police station in South 24 Parganas on Saturday afternoon, pleading with the officer-incharge to stop her father from marrying her off.
Police and child welfare staff acted at once, convincing her parents not to proceed until she reached marriageable age. “Please help me stop this marriage. I want to study but my father is marrying me off,” she told OC Subhash Chandra Ghosh.
The girl told the cops her father had been searching for a groom for six months. On Saturday evening, her parents were to visit Chandaneshwar village in Bhangar to finalise her wedding. She had tried to convince her father that he could not marry her off as she was still a minor but he was adamant.
On Saturday, the Class VI student left for school. On the way, she dropped in at a classmate’s home and asked her to accompany her to the police station. After the classmate said she was afraid to do so, the girl decided to fight her battle alone.
She walked 2.5km to the police station and demanded to be allowed to meet the OC. On hearing her problem, the OC called in two child welfare committee representatives and sent a team to the girl’s home. When they failed to convince the father, a rickshaw van driver, they threatened him with the legal consequences of marrying off a minor. This worked and he committed himself in writing not to marry her off till she came of age.
Local MLA Saukat Mollah said under-age marriage was still a problem in his area despite awareness campaigns. “We have been able to stop about eight such marriages this year but need to do more,” he said.
Read the story in Bengali
Representative image
