A case has been registered against 13 persons, including the groom, after a 13-year-old girl was allegedly married off despite warnings from the administration in Indore, officials said on Thursday.
Mahendra Pathak, the in-charge of the flying squad formed by Madhya Pradesh’s Women and Child Development Department against child marriage, said the girl’s mother had remarried after the death of her husband, following which the teenager had been living with her siblings at her grandparents’ house.
According to Pathak, the girl’s grandfather married her off to a 42-year-old man on April 26 in exchange for the marriage of his grandson.
He said the groom’s father had put forward a condition before the girl’s grandfather that he would allow his daughter to marry the latter’s grandson only if the grandfather, in return, married off his 13-year-old granddaughter to his 42-year-old son.
The official said the marriage was initially scheduled for April 25, but the administration received information about it and stopped the ceremony after warning both families of legal action.
“Despite the warning, the girl was taken from Indore to Ujjain on the night of April 26 after misleading the administration. She was dressed as a bride there and married to the 42-year-old man in a temple,” he said.
Pathak said that after the marriage, the girl returned to her grandparents’ home, but a few days later, pressure was allegedly put on her to go to her in-laws’ house, and she was also allegedly assaulted. The case of child marriage came to light after a complaint was received.
The police registered an FIR on Wednesday night against 13 people, including the groom, his relatives and the girl’s grandparents, under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.
Pathak said a fake marksheet was allegedly prepared to facilitate the child marriage, and the administration was investigating the matter.
In India, the marriage of a boy below 21 years of age or a girl below 18 years of age is considered child marriage, which carries a punishment of up to two years’ rigorous imprisonment, a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.