Baraat Turns Back as Child Marriage of 15-Year-Old Girl Foiled in Narwana

Jind: The child marriage of a 15-year-old girl was stopped just in the nick of time when the local administration, the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer, along with members of NGO Mission to the Desperate and Destitute (MDD) of India, reached the venue even as the baraat was barely ten kilometres away in Narwana, Jind. As news of the intervention spread, the baraat turned back.

The team counselled the girl’s family and produced her before the Child Welfare Committee. Meanwhile, the boy, who too is not of legal age to marry, has been directed to appear before officials along with his family.

It began a couple of days ago when an MDD of India’s official received a call. “The caller, not very old, told me about the impending marriage and said he had seen my contact number in one of the social awareness reels circulating online. He noted it down and called me to alert us, on the condition of anonymity,” Narender Sharma, District Coordinator of MDD of India said.

MDD of India, a partner of Just Rights for Children which is the largest network of NGOs, works actively on child protection in the district. As part of its outreach, the organisation regularly conducts awareness programmes and places posters in police stations, religious spaces, and schools, carrying a clear message of a child marriage free India.

Interestingly, a few days ago, the girl’s uncle had written to the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) claiming that the girl’s father had taken Rs 1.5 lakh from the groom’s family and had agreed to marry his minor daughter to the boy. Acting on the complaint, NCPCR had also directed the Superintendent of Police, Jind, to take action in the case.

That one call and the uncle’s complaint together set everything in motion.

As soon as the information was received, Sharma, along with a joint team including police officials and the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer, swung into action, reaching the venue just in time to prevent the illegal marriage.

“When documents were checked and the family members questioned, the team came to know that the girl, eldest of four children, was merely 15 and a half years old. She studied in Class VI but had recently dropped out of school,” Sharma adds. With a few hours left for the wedding, around 20 guests were present.

The parents were counselled and informed about the laws against child marriage and taken to the police station, where they signed an undertaking that they would not marry off their daughter before she turns 18.

The girl, however, when produced before the Child Welfare Committee, refused to return to her family. “My parents were forcing me to get married. I do not want to go home with them because I am scared of them,” she told officials.

The girl has hence been shifted to a Child Care Institution, where she is being counselled.

Talking about the role of coordination and vigilance in stopping child marriages, Surinder Singh Mann, CEO, MDD of India, said, “This intervention shows how one phone call or one letter can bring the much-awaited change and rescue the lives of young children. It is this coordination and support from all stakeholders that will make Haryana child marriage free before 2030.”