In a welcoming news, Mumbai police rescued a teenager who was a victim of the child marriage.
This comes at a time when child marriages have witnessed a surge across Maharashtra after coronavirus-induced lockdown.
According to reports, a 16-year-old girl who was going to be married off was rescued from a wedding hall in the city on Thursday, May 12, police said.
Official further stated the police raided the wedding hall in suburban Kandivali after receiving a tip-off from an NGO that a child marriage was taking place there, said an official.
The girl was going to be married to a 22-year-old man.
A police team stopped the marriage and made both the families aware of legal implications of child marriage, said the official.
The girl was sent for counselling while the bridegroom was let off as marriage had not taken place, he said.
As per research, there have been 15,253 cases of child marriage and 6,582 malnutrition deaths in the last three years from 16 mostly tribal-dominated districts of Maharashtra.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court (HC) had asked the district magistrate and district collector to visit the sixteen tribal districts and find out the reasons for high incidence of child marriage.
Reports also pointed out that as many as 6,582 child deaths occurred over three years from 2019-20 to 2021-22 due to malnutrition, out of which 601 cases involved parents who were victims of child marriage and the mothers were minors.
Also Read: Maharashtra: Child marriage soar during COVID-19 lockdown
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