A 13-year-old girl, who was allegedly being forced to marry a man much older than her age in Delhi’s RK Puram, was rescued by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) after receiving a distress call. The girl, an orphan, had complained to the DCW 181 Women’s Helpline that her maternal grandparents were forcing her to marry.
“On receiving the complaint on DCW 181 Women’s Helpline from a man who said that a 13-year-old girl called Jyoti (name changed) is being forced into a child marriage, the DCW counsellors went to the address given in the complaint and the girl was rescued from her home despite resistance from her uncle and other men of the community,” said an official of DCW.
At the police station, the girl, who appeared to be very scared, said that some time back she came to know that her mama was planning to take her to Karnataka on 19 April to get her married to a man he knew who was much older to Jyoti.
She said she was against the marriage and had told the same to her nana-nani several times. Feeling helpless, she used the phone of a stranger to make a call to DCW 181 Women’s Helpline.