MALAPPURAM: One more case of child marriage has been reported in Malappuram district.
After coming to know that a 25-year-old man married a 17-year-old girl studying in Plus Two, Karuvarakundu police registered a case against four persons -- the groom, his parents and a qasi who officiated in the marriage ceremony held last week -- based on a tipoff on Saturday. The officers on Sunday recorded the girl’s statement.
Karuvarakundu Inspector of Police Manoj Parayatta told TNIE that a case has been registered under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 in the incident.
"Culprits in such cases can get up to five years of rigorous imprisonment and can be fined Rs 10 lakh. The girl is still staying with her family. All those people who participated in the ceremony will also be arraigned in the case,” Manoj said.
However, the officer also admitted that collecting evidence in child marriage cases is difficult.
“Usually, such marriages are conducted secretly. They won’t take photographs and the people in the area will not cooperate with the investigation by handing over the pieces of evidence. Still, we will carry out the investigation seriously and ensure maximum punishment for the people involved so that such cases don’t happen again,” the officer said.
Child marriages were reported in Karuvarakundu earlier too. Malappuram childline authorities had blocked the attempts to marry off 10 minor girls from the area in 2017.
The parents tried to hold the marriages of two ten-year-old and eight 16-year-old girls without their consent.
In 2016, the authorities from various government departments including the child protection officer had blocked marriages of 12 girls from Moothedam panchayat, an adjacent area.
Meanwhile, district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairman Shajesh Basker said child development project officers (CDPOs) should work hard to block child marriages in the district.
“The CDPO in the Karuvarakundu area did not report this case. Yet, we could act against the marriage” Basker said.
REPEAT INCIDENTS?
Child marriages were reported in Karuvarakundu earlier too.
Malappuram childline authorities had blocked the attempts to marry off two ten-year-old and eight 16-year-old girls from the area in 2017.