Police foil 4th child marriage in three days TNN
| Apr 23, 2018, 06:48 IST
Ekatha.Ann@timesgroup.com
CHENNAI : At 6am on Sunday, minutes before 16-year-old Savitha* was to mount a podium in Thiruvottiyur to marry a distant relative, the music abruptly stopped. Police and social welfare officials had come to her rescue. She could finally return to school like she wanted to.
Since Friday, social welfare officials, police and Childline volunteers have thwarted four child marriages in Chennai. Based on a tip to the NGO Don Bosco Anbu Illam, police officials and the district social welfare officer stopped the wedding and produced the teenager and her family before the Child Welfare Committee, Chennai.
“We let the child return to the family with an undertaking from the family and a local head that they wouldn’t marry her off till she turns18,” said CWC member Sheila Charles Mohan.
But in two other cases, CWC decided against sending the children back to their families. On Saturday, they received an alert that a 15-year-old girl from MR Nagar, Kodungaiyur, was to be married to a 25-year-old man. They were engaged a month ago; the marriage was scheduled for this year. The police and child welfare officials said the family resisted when they intervened. They moved the child, with her consent, temporarily to a registered home.
A 17-year-old girl from Erukkanchery, likewise, was to get married in a few months. Officials met the family on Friday and got an undertaking from them that they would not marry her off till she is an adult. “But the child sought protection till she completed her education. So we shifted her to a home,” said an official who was part of the rescue team.
On Friday, the Chennai collectorate received a call from a Class XII student from Villivakkam who said her parents had fixed her wedding for next month. The child and her family were asked to appear before the CWC on Monday.
“More people are reporting, but families are yet to wake up to the seriousness of the problem,” said Sheila.
In the Tiruvottiyur case, the mother was a 34-yearold. “She got married when she was 16, so getting her daughter married at this age seemed natural to her,” said Sheila. The four children and their families were referred to the district social welfare officers to complete formalities to ensure they aren’t married off till they are18 years old.
| Apr 23, 2018, 06:48 IST
Ekatha.Ann@timesgroup.com
CHENNAI : At 6am on Sunday, minutes before 16-year-old Savitha* was to mount a podium in Thiruvottiyur to marry a distant relative, the music abruptly stopped. Police and social welfare officials had come to her rescue. She could finally return to school like she wanted to.
Since Friday, social welfare officials, police and Childline volunteers have thwarted four child marriages in Chennai. Based on a tip to the NGO Don Bosco Anbu Illam, police officials and the district social welfare officer stopped the wedding and produced the teenager and her family before the Child Welfare Committee, Chennai.
“We let the child return to the family with an undertaking from the family and a local head that they wouldn’t marry her off till she turns18,” said CWC member Sheila Charles Mohan.
But in two other cases, CWC decided against sending the children back to their families. On Saturday, they received an alert that a 15-year-old girl from MR Nagar, Kodungaiyur, was to be married to a 25-year-old man. They were engaged a month ago; the marriage was scheduled for this year. The police and child welfare officials said the family resisted when they intervened. They moved the child, with her consent, temporarily to a registered home.
A 17-year-old girl from Erukkanchery, likewise, was to get married in a few months. Officials met the family on Friday and got an undertaking from them that they would not marry her off till she is an adult. “But the child sought protection till she completed her education. So we shifted her to a home,” said an official who was part of the rescue team.
On Friday, the Chennai collectorate received a call from a Class XII student from Villivakkam who said her parents had fixed her wedding for next month. The child and her family were asked to appear before the CWC on Monday.
“More people are reporting, but families are yet to wake up to the seriousness of the problem,” said Sheila.
In the Tiruvottiyur case, the mother was a 34-yearold. “She got married when she was 16, so getting her daughter married at this age seemed natural to her,” said Sheila. The four children and their families were referred to the district social welfare officers to complete formalities to ensure they aren’t married off till they are18 years old.
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