KASARGOD: Chittarikkal police charged a man with offences under the POCSO Act after they found that his estranged wife was a minor when they got married in 2018. The girl was nine months short of turning 18 years.
The case was a result of a twisted turn of events.
The woman, belonging to a Scheduled Tribe community, had filed a complaint with Chittarikkal police accusing her boyfriend of abusing her after promising to marry him.
Chittarikkal police transferred the case to the Special Mobile Squad (SMS), a dedicated wing of Kerala police to investigate cases registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
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When Kasaragod Special Mobile Squad DySP V K Vishwambaran Nair began an investigation into the complaint, he learned from the woman that she was already married to another man, aged 29 years, from Mallom in Balal panchayat. After some time, the couple fell off and went their separate ways.
It was during that time she came in contact with the second person. "But when he ditched her after promising to marry her, she filed a complaint with us," said an officer of Chittarikkal police. "At that time we did not know she was married," he said
But the SMS DySP found out that she was not only married but was also a minor when the man from Mallom took her as his wife. She was then 17 years and three months old.
Based on the direction from the SMS, Chittarikkal police said they registered a case against the man under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.