Two child brides rescued in one week

On November 10, Child Line staff had got in touch with the One-Stop Centre—which facilitates access to emergency response and rescue services among others — to alert about the marriage ceremony of Keerthi (name changed), a 16-year-old girl in Perumbakkam’s resettlement area.

The local police assisted the staff and upon inquiry, the girl told them about her mother’s plans to marry her off. She said her mother had planned to take her to Villupuram for the wedding. The mother wanted to keep the ceremony under wraps, and had not told even the relatives about the plan. She had asked the girl to inform her aunt about the wedding only on the day of the ceremony, officials said.

“The mother denied any such plans and said that the plan was hatched merely to scare her daughter. However, we were suspicious about the mother’s intentions. We produced the girl in front of the Child Welfare Committee in Chengalpattu and later she was sent to a government home,” said a source from the One-Stop Centre.

In another case, a 15-year-old girl from near Ambattur was about to be married off to a 26-year old in Tindivanam on November 11. “We visited the house to rescue the girl, but the family was away at the wedding at the time. We had asked the neighbours to inform us when they returned. On receiving information, an FIR was filed in the Tirumullaivoyal Police Station to rescue the girl. She was later sent to a government home in the city,” added the source.