14-year-old girl’s marriage stopped in Haryana's Khapland district

JIND: The district administration successfully prevented a child marriage in Jind city on Saturday, which is the fourth such intervention in the last one and half month period in Jind district alone.
On January 25, the administration got a tip-off that a child marriage was being solemnised in Shyam Nagar area in Jind city. Acting on this information the District Child Marriage Prohibition officer Sunita sent her team accompanied by the police and representatives from an NGO to the spot to intervene into the matter.
On reaching the spot, the officials sought the documents to establish the age of the bride, which revealed her age as just 14 years and 6 months while the age of the groom was 31 years. The groom’s marriage procession had come to the city from Buwana village of this district.
The officials warned both parties with strict legal action under the provisions of the Child Marriage Act, 2006 if they would try to proceed further in this regard. After this strict warning, the marriage procession returned home without completing marriage ceremonies.
Surender Singh Maan, state coordinator of the NGO team, said that with the help of district administration, they successfully intervened in four child marriages in just one and half month period in Jind district alone. While joining counselling session at the women police station, girl’s mother, a widow, stated she was uneducated and unaware of the provisions of the Child Marriage Act. The district administration has prevented three child marriages in the last December month – first at Barah Khurd Village on December 1 while second at Didwara village on December 7 and the third at Mandi Kalan village on December 25, he added.