VELLORE: In a brave act, a fifteen year old school girl walked into a police station hours after she was forced into marriage with a 28 year old man, complaining about the injustice done to her. The girl, a native of Kalinjur in Vellore city, was studying Class IX at a private school in Katpadi. She was taken to her grandparents’ house in Vaniyambadi in Tirupathur district a week ago.
When the grandparents talked about getting her married off, she strongly objected to it. "However, on Thursday night, they took her to a hill top temple, and overpowered before egging on the groom to tie the knot. The girl tried to wrench out but in vain," said P Murugeswari, District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO),Vellore.
The groom was a relative of the girl. After spending a sleepless night, she slipped out of the house on Friday monring while her grandparents went away for work.
The girl rode on an autorikshaw to reach Virudampat where she walked into the police station narrating the grueling experience. An awareness programme held in her school on an earlier occasion guided her to knock the doors of the police station.
"She told us that once an awareness programme was held in her school and a police officer spoke about approaching with any complaint against injustice. So, she straightaway came into the station," said a police officer.
She was later handed over to the officials of the Social Welfare Department. They interrogated and recorded her statement. Meanwhile, volunteers of Childline and government departments including Social Welfare, Revenue and Police, thwarted the bid to marry of three school girls.
One was a 16 year old girl, studying Class XI, belonging to Karnampat in Katpadu while the other two were studying Class VIII staying in Sholingur and a dropout from Walaja, both belonged to Ranipet district.
All the four children were accommodated at a home run by Organisation for Rural Development at Ariyoor and would be subjected to COVID-19 test before being produced before the Child Welfare Committee.
As many as 35 child marriages were stopped between March 25 and July 4 during the lockdown in combined Vellore district. Taking advantage of the restrictions of lockdown, several parents arrange the marriage for the minor wards thinking to escape the eyes of the government authorities.