Two child marriages foiled in Jind

The district administration of Jind foiled an attempt to marry off a 15-year-old minor boy, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, to a 26-year-old woman at a village in Jind district today.

The groom, who is a school student, arrived in the village with a marriage procession from his home in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh.

Jind District Child Marriage Prohibition Officer Sunita said she got information that a minor boy was getting married to a woman in Didwara village of the Safidon subdivision in the district.

She, along with the police and other staff, reached the spot and foiled the marriage. She said the marriage procession returned home on being informed about the provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

She said the minor boy would be called to join them for a counselling session.

Sunita said they sought the documents to establish the age of the groom which revealed his age as 15 years and four months. The age of the bride-to-be was found to be 26 years. She was 11 years older to the groom-to-be.

In another incident, the team stopped the marriage of a 12-and-a-half-year-old girl in Jind. She was being married off to a 31-year-old man.

Narender Sharma, district coordinator of the MDD of India, and his team were also present with the CMPO officials and the district police. The MDD of India is running a project against child marriage in 17 districts, including Jind of Haryana.

Sharma said this was the second case of child marriage in a week in Jind district during the ongoing nationwide campaign "Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat" (from 25 November to 10 December) launched by the Centre.