Prompt action by the officials of Delhi Government’s 181 helpline saved a girl from being forcibly married by her parents against her wishes. The incident took place in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The girl in question, who works in a company in Mumbai, fell in love with a boy who belonged to the OBC category. The girl confided in her parents. Her parents did not approve of her marriage. They planned to call her back on the pretext of illness in the family.
The girl returned to her maternal home and was immediately taken to another village where her parents told her to marry a groom of their choice. The girl was in no mood to marry the boy who her parents wanted to. She, in turn, called up the Delhi Government’s 181 helpline and narrated her ordeal. Civil rights activist Khadijah Faruqui, who heads the helpline, said the girl was produced before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Jaunpur district and subsequently sent to Nari Niketan in Varanasi on August 31.
Jaunpur SDM ordered for the release of the girl from the shelter home on September 10. The order was reportedly handed over to the Jafrabad Station Officer the same day. The police officer, in turn, informed the helpline that the release order has been handed over to the girl’s parents. After the officials of the 181 spoke to the Jaunpur Superintendent of Police, the girl’s release order was sent through a constable to Nari Niketan.
Officials of helpline said that when the girl was about to be released a message from the Jaunpur police said she should not be released before the arrival of the police at Nari Niketan. On September 12, few constables from the Jaunpur police reached Nari Niketan in a white Bolero, which did not bear any numberplate. The constables forcibly took the girl inside the car and drove towards the city.