Minor Rescued After Child Marriage

The City Police rescued a minor girl from getting married on contract to a Sharjah national.

According to the police, on Sunday evening, on a tip-off that a child marriage was taking place at Moin Bagh in Riyasathnagar, a team from the Santoshnagar Police Station reached the location and found the bride Sana Sultana, and the bridegroom Hilal Saeed Mohammed Al Hilal, a Sharjah nationalist, aged 47 years, a Qazi Mohd Waheedudin, and parents of the bride Awan Bin Salam Barawas and Parveen Sultana and others.

By the time the police reached the spot, the marriage was already solemnized by the Qazi.

Since the bride looked like a minor, she was taken into safe custody and subjected to an age determination test at Osmania General Hospital, where Dr. Abhijeet Subedar, issued a certificate that stated that the girl is aged 16.

The police probed further and found that the girl was forcibly married to the aged Sharjah nationalist, and that her signatures and thumb impressions were obtained under duress.

Further enquiries revealed that the parents of the bride falsely reported her date of birth as 12-03-1989 on her Aadhar card, thus bringing her age to 22 years, with an intention to marry her off to an Arab citizen.

The Qazi, without verifying the age of the bride, then fraudulently performed the marriage obtained the bride's signatures on the marriage forms, blank forms, non-judicial stamp papers, and ledger papers.

The Santoshnagar Police booked cases against the bridegroom and the girl's parents under the Prohibition Of The Child Marriage Act and other relevant sections. The trio have been arrested, and the passport of the Sharjah nationalist has been seized. (INN)