Three child marriages foiled in a month in Jind; officials step in to protect minors | India News

JIND: The district administration along with a NGO stopped three stopped three marriages in a month, in which all three couples were minors.In a fresh case, the district administration successfully intervened a child marriage at the local Vishwakarma Chowk area in Jind in which the bride and groom both were minors. The boy was 18 years old while the girl was 16-years old. This is the third child marriage prevented in a month in the Jind district.The first child marriage was stopped at Brahmanwas village on April 30, in which the groom’s age was 20 and bride was 17. In this case, the boy had been selected in a government job in postal department, and the bride’s father was poor, and following his financial condition, he fixed the marriage of his younger girl along with his elder daughter on the same day to save marriage expenses. The second marriage was prevented at Kharak Gadia village of this district on May 12, in which the groom’s age was 18 and the bride was 13, said officials. In the fresh case, it came to light that preparations were underway and the groom’s procession was ready to proceed to complete further marriage rituals at the bride’s house at Narnaund town of Hisar district. The team members apprised the groom’s mother, a widow, and guests of the strict provisions of the Child Marriage Act 2006. For some time, she tried to mislead in showing birth certificates of her son, but after strict warning from the team members, she produced the certificates in which it came to light that the he was 3 years shorter than marriageable age. After this, the birth certificates of the brides were also demanded on WhatsApp, and after verifying the documents, the bride was also found to be just 16 years old. Later, the groom’s mother recorded her statement before the police that she was illiterate and unaware of the provisions of The Child Marriage Act 2006, said Surender Singh Mann, head of MDD, an NGO which was involved with district administration in all three marriages.Maan said that under the aegis of Just Rights for Children (JRC), a national platform of 250 civil societies working in 416 districts in the country, his organization was working against child marriage in 14 districts of Haryana, including Jind. He further said though different social reasons forced parents to tie the knot of their minor children but independent choices of brides and grooms totally ignored, as parents treat them as their private property, which is an injustice to them.