An 18-year-old reportedly escaped from a girls’ home in Hassan, where she was kept following a District Child Welfare Committee’s order, and married a person of her choice on Saturday.
K.M. Ramseena, a native of Alur taluk, was kept at Shweta Ujwala Centre, a home for girls, registered under the Department of Women and Child Development. She married H.S. Raghu, 28, also from her village at a temple in Arasikere.
The couple told the media that they had been in love for two years and had faced opposition from the girl’s parents over their marriage. They maintained that Ramseena’s parents opposed their marriage because they were from different religions. After the marriage, the couple met Superintendent of Police A.N. Prakash Gowda and sought protection.
The girl had gone missing in November 2017, prompting her parents to file a complaint with the Alur police. Later, they moved a habeas corpus petition in the High Court, putting pressure on the police to find the girl. The police traced the girl, who gave a statement before the court that she had voluntarily left the home and would marry Raghu after she turned 18. The court ordered that she would be kept in the girl’s home until she became a major.
Ramseena turned 18 on September 13. Her issue came to the Child Welfare Committee in Hassan on September 25. The committee took a decision to send her back to her parents. While the parents were taking her out, Raghu and his family created a ruckus demanding that she be sent with them. The incident forced the committee to keep her in the home for a few more days.
“We had kept her in Shweta Ujwala Centre. It is the responsibility of the centre to protect the inmates. We will seek an explanation from the centre on how the girl escaped and who was responsible for this,” said H.T. Komala, chairperson of the committee.