In a classic case of the groom of a “Balika Badhu” landing in trouble within hours of their marriage, the Mumbai police have arrested a 23-year-old man for entering into a court marriage with a minor girl after allegedly tampering with her real date of birth on her Aadhar card to prove that she was a major.
The fraud came to light within hours after they got married in a civil marriage on Tuesday (April 11) at the office of Marriage Registrar at Bandra in north-west Mumbai, when the boy and girl visited the Dahisar Police Station to complete the mandatory legal formalities.
Suspecting foul play, the police summoned the girl’s father Sabajit Pal, a tailor, to ascertain facts about the bride’s age. Pal told the police that his daughter’s date of birth had been tampered with allegedly by the boy to prove that she was 18 years, an age criterion for Court Marriage.
Under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, the Court Marriage age for a boy is 21 years and the Court Marriage age for a girl is 18 years. On his part, Pal produced his daughter’s original birth certificate, as submitted to a local school as proof of the real date of birth.