Teen’s marriage with sick man stopped in time

Hyderabad: Even before Hyderabad could forget about a child marriage a month ago, another forced marriage came to light. But the timely intervention by civil society has rescued the teenager from getting pushed into a marriage.

A 15-year-old girl's marriage, which was scheduled to take place with a 35-year-old man, was stopped. The bridegroom, who is already married, is suffering from a life-threatening disease.

The high-voltage drama was unfolded at Tukaram Gate on Monday when officials of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), Balala Hakkula Sangam and police stopped the marriage of the 15-year-old girl with one Srinivas scheduled at Yadagirigutta on April 21.

During the drama, the girl’s mother threatened to commit suicide. However, she was taken to police station and given counselling while father was on the run. According to the officials, Srinivas had lied to girl’s parents that he is a software engineer and divorced his first wife.

The parents were in for a rude shock when they got to know that the man was actually a diploma holder and not divorced from the first wife.The bride-to-be with tears rolling down her eyes said that she had accepted the proposal as her parent’s threatened to commit suicide if she does not do so.

“My dream is to study and achieve a name for myself. I scored 85 percent in Class IX. I am sure that I will score a good percentage in SSC exam. I no longer want to stay with my parents. I prefer to shift to a home for children, so that I can pursue further studies,” she said.

SCPCR member Achyuta Rao said the man took Rs 5 lakh as a dowry from the parents and planned to leave for Muscat leaving the girl in the city soon after the wedding. “When we counselled her mother she said that they don’t have much money. But we were surprised how did the girl’s father agreed to give dowry to the man,” Rao said.

The girl said that she had no clue about Srinivas’s plan to leave for Muscat soon after the wedding. Child Development Project Officer Prajwala said that due to poor economical background parents tend to marry off their daughters at an early age. When The Hans India contacted Srinivas, he said that he was not the person whom we were looking for. He tried to hide his identity.

Balala Hakkula Sangham president Anuradha expressed her displeasure over increasing number of child marriages. She lamented that the indifferent attitude of officials was leading to increase in number of child marriages. She demanded that the government create awareness among people.