Child marriage at Chennai wedding hall stopped; minor girl rescued

CHENNAI: The members of the Indian Council of Child Welfare stopped a child marriage at Mogappair West on Sunday and rescued a 14-year-old girl of Thiruverkadu, a native of Andhra Pradesh. She was sent to a government home on Sunday, and sent to her home on Monday.
The girl was engaged to Rajkumar, 22, a garbage collector, in the city. The family members of the man and the minor girl were going to conduct the marriage at a hall in Mogappair West on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the members of the ICCW in Shenoy Nagar received a tip-off on Sunday about the minor's marriage. Based on the input, the members, Mala and Arulraj, reached the spot. Upon inquiries, they found that the bride was a minor. On information, the Thirumangalam all-women police reached the spot and stopped the marriage around 4pm.
The ICCW officials along with the police team rescued the girl and took her to a home in Mogappair. She was sent to her home on Monday after a statement was taken from her, police said.
According to a Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) study, at least 511 minor schoolgirls in Tamil Nadu got married during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The study claimed that about 37 girls in Class IX, and 10 girls in Class VIII were married off.
An RTI reply from the department of social welfare and women empowerment confirmed that at least 2,209 cases of child marriages were stopped in the state in 2019.