Balodabazar. Balodabazar district administration came into action on the information of child marriage of minor boys and girls in the district. The Mahila Child Development team went to the spot and stopped the child marriage. On persuasion, the girl’s parents and villagers agreed and the minor girl was prevented from marrying. District Program Officer Tikvendra Jatwar told that in a village of Karhibazar Chowki area of the district, child marriage of a 12 year old girl was being done with a 19 year old minor boy resident of Bilaspur.
1098 On receiving the information on Child Line, on the instructions of Collector Chandan Kumar, a joint team of Women and Child Development Department, District Child Protection Unit, Child Line and Karhibazar Outpost Police immediately raided the spot and collected the marksheet for the date of birth of the girl and the boy becoming majority. It was observed that the age of the girl was found to be only 12 years while the age of the boy was found to be 19 years. The women and child development team also explained to the family members that marriage can be done only after the girl turns 18 years of age and the boy turns 21 years of age. Besides, a declaration form was also made to be filled by the family members. The team told the family members that both arranging and performing child marriage is a crime under the law, they were informed about the provisions of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act 2006, it was also told that action will be taken against those who conduct child marriage.
