Alert cops foil child marriage

Quick action on the part of the Santoshnagar police resulted in the rescue of a minor girl who was married off to an older man, a Sharjah national. They also arrested the parents of the girl, the groom, and the qazi who performed the marriage. Old men, mostly from Arab countries, have been coming to Hyderabad in search of young, often under-aged, brides whose parents are bribed with money to allow the marriage. Sometimes the girl is abandoned after some time, or she may be sold into prostitution in a foreign land.

In this latest case, the Santoshnagar police received information on Sunday evening that such a child marriage was being held at Moin Bagh in Riyasathnagar. They rushed to the house and rounded up the bridegroom Hilal Saeed Mohammed Al Hilal, aged 47, Qazi Mohd Waheedudin, and the parents of the bride, Awan bin Salam Barawas and Parveen Sultana. By the time police reached the house, the marriage was already solemnised by the Qazi. Since the bride looked like she was a minor, she was taken into safe custody. A medical examination showed her age to be 16.

Police investigations revealed that the girl was forced into the marriage and her signature taken under duress. The parents of the bride, knowing well that she was a minor, had forced her to marry Hilal. They did this for the sum of Rs 30,000. Hilal allegedly told the police that he has a wife and children in the UAE and he married the girl only with the intention of having sexual relations with her when in India. Cases have been booked under Sections 366-A, 417, 420, 384, 468, 471, 109 R/w 34 of the IPC and Sections 3 R/w 9 and 10 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, against all the arrested — Hilal, Qazi Mohd Waheeduddin, and the girl’s parents. Source

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15-year-old Rajasthan girl sold by mother, raped

Jaipur, Aug 10 (IANS) A 15-year-old girl in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district has alleged that she was sold off by her mother to a man for Rs.2.15 lakh, who raped her and kept her in illegal confinement for several days, police said Wednesday.



The girl somehow escaped and narrated her story to her grandfather, following which a case was registered against the mother and two men Tuesday. All the three are absconding.



According to the police, the incident took place in Guda Gaud Ji area of the district, some 170 km from state capital Jaipur.



"The woman took the girl, who studies in Class six, to market on pretext of buying clothes for her June 24. She took her to a nearby place where the two men, who have been identified by the girl as Ashok and Mohanlal, lived," a police officer told IANS.



He added that they gagged the girl and took her to a temple situated on nearby hills.



"The girl says that Ashok forced her to go round a fire in the temple as a marriage ritual and told her that she was now his wife," the officer added.



The girl was then repeatedly raped by Ashok. During her stay with Ashok, he told her that he had bought her for Rs.2.15 lakh.



"She somehow coaxed Ashok into taking her to her grandfather once. When she met him, she told him about what happened.



"The grandfather registered a police complaint against her mother and the buyers Tuesday," said the officer.



Police said that cases of girls being sold off have been reported in rural areas of Rajasthan.



In April, police rescued two girls, a toddler and a 12-year-old, who had been sold by their fathers.



source

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Student under pressure to marry sister's husband rescued by cops

COIMBATORE: A plus two student in Coimbatore who was being forced to marry her sister's husband was rescued by the city police and given protection to write the public examination on Wednesday to be held at the Ganapathy area in the city. 

It was a desperate telephonic call by the school girl to the city police commissioner C Sylendra Babu that saved her from an illegal marriage. The plus two student of Government Higher Secondary School at Ganapathy, who was busy preparing for her public exams, was asked to get ready for her marriage with her brother-in-law. Her parents told her that the marriage would be held on Friday. 

The shocked girl pleaded with her parents to let her continue with her studies. But her parents were adamant and wanted her to marry her sister's husband. Her sister and her husband, a scrap dealer in Ganapathy, has two daughters. They apparently wanted to have a son. In a last-ditch effort, the desperate girl called up the city police commissioner and asked for his help on Tuesday. 

The commissioner immediately sent assistant police commissioner M Rangathal to the girl's home for an inquiry. After a detailed enquiry, Rangathal confirmed that the girl's complaint was genuine and rescued the girl from her home. "We have rescued the girl and handed her over to a child welfare committee. She wants to continue higher studies. The committee has sent her to a child care home at Saravanampatty," said Sylendra Babu. 

The girl's father T Ganeshan, 47, a scrap dealer of Ganapathy has two daughters. The first daughter G Sheela, 23, had married Sankaran, 30, a scrap dealer of Ganapathy in 2006. The couple has two female children but Sankaran wanted to have a son. So, he asked his wife Sheela to persuade her sister to marry him. 

Two months ago, Sankaran went to the girl's school and informed her that her father met with an accident. He took her in a cab and tried to win over her consent by force. But, she stoutly refused. Sankaran told the police that he was in love with the girl and wanted to marry her. However, he has not been arrested because the girl did not want to lodge a formal complaint.  (TOI)

"As the girl's family were very poor, the brother-in-law tried to exploit their poverty and force the girl into marriage. We have stopped the marriage and warned the girl's parents to not force their daughter into marriage," said assistant police commissioner M Rangathal. 

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