Women and Child Development (WCD) department, Raipur district lodged a complaint with Kharora police station as a boy, aged 18, was married off even after his father gave an affidavit, pledging not to conduct the marriage ceremony.
Ashok Pandey, the district programme officer of WCD Raipur when contacted said information was received that a resident of Kesla village had fixed the marriage of his son who has not yet attained the legal marriageable age of 21 years.
A WCD task force and police team had approached the parents and advised them that under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, legal action will be initiated against them, if they go ahead with the marriage. The father then filed the affidavit.
But, later it came to the notice that the father had gone ahead with the marriage in the village. Based on the information, Amit Sinha, the child marriage prevention officer , Raipur lodged a complaint with Kharora police station for registering an FIR against the parents after conducting a probe into the matter.
Pandey further said that in a day or two the FIR will be lodged after collecting evidences regarding the age-proof and marriage ceremony.
In another similar incident, a Sarora village resident had fixed the marriage of his daughter aged 16 years 4 months, on ‘Akshya Tritiya.’ After getting the information, the WCD task force and police team members interacted with the parents and relatives to stop the marriage as it will invite legal action. They also briefed them about the adverse impact on health and other problems related to child marriage. The father also signed an affidavit promising not to marry off his daughter before she is 18.