4-year-old girl saved from marriage in Belgaum taluk

BELGAUM: Officials of the child welfare, education and police departments thwarted the wedding ceremony of a 4-year-old girl scheduled for Tuesday in Ukkad village of Belgaum taluk.
Parasappa Ningappa Masamaddi of Kundargi village in Gokak taluk had organized the marriage of his fourth daughter Ningavva with 12-year-old Maruti Baligar of Ukkad village.The engagement ceremony was held a fortnight ago and families had even printed the invitation cards.
When local Anganwadi workers came to know about it, they alerted their seniors. Gokak child development project officer Vijaykumar, block education officer Gajanan Mannikeri and police officials went to Kundargi and told Ningavva's parents that conducting a child marriage is an offence. The parents assured them they would cancel the marriage. But, they went ahead with the marriage arrangements and distributed cards. To hoodwink the officials, they sent Ningavva to Ukkad village two days before the marriage day.
Following a tip-off, officials visited Kundargi again and took the child into custody. When they came to the office, officials realized that they had been fooled because the girl they'd brought was Ningavva's elder sister.
The shocked officials went back on their mission to prevent the marriage and this time, they succeeded. They took Ningavva into custody on Monday night. K H Obalappa, deputy director of women and child welfare department, told TOI, "We plan to book a case against Ningavva's parents."