Rajasthan: Two child marriages during Covid-19 in Alwar, minors land in quarantine

ALWAR: The zero tolerance policy of the state government against child marriages was exposed again after two "newly married" minor couples landed in quarantine when one groom tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. The brides are sisters and grooms came from different villages under Kishangarh tehsil of Alwar.
The marriages, solemnised on May 4 at Machadi village in Malakheda tehsil of Alwar when the lockdown was in force, resulted in ruthless curfew in one village and the sealing of several village boundaries to track suspected cases.
The Covid-19 positive case had a recent history of travel to Delhi. He works as a driver of a pick-up vehicle and had carried vegetables to Azadpur Mandi in Delhi from Alwar.
The local administration came across the minor groom while tracking drivers who have a travel history to Delhi. They took him for the test on May 7 and he tested positive.
But the worst was yet to come. During the contact tracking session, the minor revealed that he had recently got married, shocking the district administration.
“We immediately informed authorities when we come to know that two marriages were held with a big feast and dozens of public gatherings,” said a health worker.
‘Contact tracing will take 2 days’
“This can be an ideal case of being a super spreader,” the health worker added.
Since the grooms came from different villages of Alwar, the contact tracing had to be made wider and bigger.
After the news of the marriages reached the district headquarters, the administration swung into action and started tracing all close relatives of the grooms and brides and put them under isolation. When the last reports came in, the administration was still tracking relatives and carrying out tests. Sensing the gravity of the situation, district collector Inderjeet Singh issued orders to seal the villages and increase testing to contain the spread.
“We are yet to complete the tracing which will take a day or two, “ said Chotu Lal Sharma, SDM of Kishangarh, who has slapped two charges for offences of violating social distancing norms and child marrriage.