(Image source from: Arab News)

In a bold and sensible step, a 15-year-old girl from Telangana freed herself from forcefully getting married off by her parents with a 21-year-old boy by calling the child helpline promptly.

The Class 10 student was supposed to attend her last exam but her parents did not permit as it was the day of her wedding. About two hours before the scheduled wedding time, she called the child helpline number 109 to break her wedding.

Child welfare authorities and the officials of She Team from Rachakonda police reached the spot in an hour and stopped the marriage.

A local child right activist Achyuta Rao, working with an NGO Balala Hakkula Sagham, became aware of the issue and alerted the police. He told The News Minute, "We quickly alerted the police and were able to rescue her. She told us that she is interested in studying but her parents were against it." The groom was a close relative of the girl's family.

As soon as the authorities arrived, there was confusion over the girl's age as the parents claimed she wasn't a minor. They claimed she was 18 years old but then the official documents from school records showed that she was a minor indeed.

The girl's parents were produced before the Mandal Revenue Officer and were warned against repeating the crime. Inspector M Mahesh informed, "The girl’s parents claimed that they were having health issues and wanted to get her married before they die."

The girl has been rescued and sent to a shelter home.  

Despite considerable awareness, child marriage remains a social evil that India apparently had a hard time eradicating. A report has found that nearly 1.5 million girls in India are gettig married before they turn 18.  The legal age of marriage in India for women is 18 and 21 for men. Last year the Supreme Court ruled that sex with an underage wife constituted rape.

By Sowmya Sangam