Child marriage stopped hours before wedding in Gondia; minor girl was to be married

A child marriage due to take place on Tuesday, the 10th, in Pragati Colony, Chhota Gondia, under the Gondia City police station area, was stopped in time by a district administration team. The team had received a tip-off that preparations for a child marriage were under way in the colony.

On receiving the information, a team was formed under the guidance of Collector Mandar Patki, District Superintendent of Police Gorakh Bhamre and District Women and Child Development Officer Reshma More. It included members of the District Child Protection Unit, the Damini squad, the Indian Social Welfare Society, Gondia, and Childline. Birth certificates of the prospective bride and groom were first obtained from the anganwadi.

According to the certificate, the girl's age was 17 years, 7 months and 20 days, which falls short of the legal age under the child marriage prohibition law. The whole team then reached the wedding venue at 2:30 pm on Tuesday. The wedding was to be held at 5:30 pm and preparations were complete. The marriage rituals were about to begin shortly.

At that point, the Damini squad police, along with teams from the Women and Child Development department and the Indian Social Welfare Society, took the bride, the parents of the bride and groom, and relatives into custody. The girl is under age, and a marriage solemnised before the legal age is an offence under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

The operation was led by District Child Protection Officer Gajanan Gobade and Indian Social Welfare Society district coordinator Dnyaneshwar Patle. For further action, the girl was produced before the Child Welfare Committee, Gondia.

Those who took part in stopping the wedding included Amit Belekar, director of the Indian Social Welfare Society; Dharmendra Bhelave of the District Child Protection Unit; and, from the Gondia Damini squad, Assistant Police Inspector Manisha Nikam, Assistant Sub-Inspector Radheshyam Phunde and woman police constable Vaishali Bhandakkar.

At the spot, the children and their relatives were told about the harmful consequences of child marriage. The parents and relatives of the children were made to give in writing that the marriage would not be held before the legal age. This was taken as a legal affidavit.