Telangana officials stop child marriage between 5-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy

Officials reached the venue as the marriage was about to start, and managed to stop it.

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Officials from the Child Welfare Department, activists and the police stopped a child marriage between a nine-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl in Telangana's Vikarabad District on Tuesday.

The incident occurred at Mambapur village in Peddemul mandal, and was reportedly being done as part of a 'caste' custom.

Activist Achyuta Rao from the Balala Hakkula Sangham said that the parents were conducting the marriage as someone had recently died in the household.

"As per their custom, no relative will enter their house after the death of a family member, unless they perform an 'auspicious event' and celebrate it," he said.

The officials, along with the Vikarabad Child Protection Unit reached the venue as the marriage was about to start.

Luckily, they reached in time, to stop it.

Visuals show the girl weeping, as she is carried to the police jeep, and made to sit beside the boy, who she was going to be married off to.

Balala Hakkula Sangham condemned the exploitation of children on the basis of superstitions, and said that the state had to intensify its awareness campaign against child marriages.

According to reports, the girl has been shifted to Hyderabad, while the boy is still with the family.

The police also said that they counselled the parents.

In February this year, two priests got their 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter married off to each other in Hyderabad, for 'family prosperity'.

However, they were arrested by the Hayathnagar police.

Reports at the time stated that the priests were also conducting post-marriage rituals for five days in a veda pathashala, before the police received a tip-off and nabbed the accused.

On February 3, another incident of child marriage came to light when a 14-year-old girl, secretly forced to marry a man four times her age, was able to free herself after four months.

The 14-year-old resident of Nalgonda district, lived in a government-run Kasturbha hostel for tribal girls, but was forced into marriage when she went home for a holiday.

According to activists, 25 cases of minors being rescued from child marriages were reported in 2016 in Hyderabad alone, while many more cases go unreported.