11 child marriages prevented in 1 year

THE number of child marriages in the coastal district has been on the rise.

JAGATSINGHPUR: THE number of child marriages in the coastal district has been on the rise. Poverty, illiteracy and lack of awareness among the parents are some of the reasons that push parents to marry off their daughters at a very young age.

In the last one year, as many as 11 child marriages  have been reported while eight have been prevented and one person was arrested by Kujang police.
Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairperson Raghunath Jena said most parents marry off their daughters because of poverty. If they find a suitable alliance with minimum dowry, they marry off their daughters. Age gap is not  a deterrence for them.  One minor girl was rescued from the marriage ‘mandap’ on Saturday.  
A 12-year-old girl of Kundal village under Patkura police limits was being married to one Mithun Mallick (19) of Kolar village  in a temple in Tirtol when the CWC team and the police raided the place and prevented the marriage.

In December, marriage of another 12-year-old girl at Markandeswar temple of Gopalsagar was stopped by the local police. The girl, belonging to a Dalit community of Tumbhandheisahi, was being  married off  to a 21 year-old groom of Balishai village under Jasbantpur panchayat under Jagatsinghpur police limits.
Child Protection Officer Udayanath Swain said, ‘Despite awareness, child marriage is widely prevalent. Our team has prevented 11 child marriages in one year.”

Woman trampled to death

Berhampur: One Rina Nayak (29) of Sisunda village under North Ghumusur forest division was trampled to death by an elephant herd. The herd, which has been moving in the area for the last five days, had  destroyed straw heaps, vegetables and banana plantations. Rina was on her way to cashewnut orchard, when she came across the herd.  When she tried to run, the herd attacked her. Some villagers took her to Bhanjanagar hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.

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