JAIPUR: Two underage sisters from
Hanumangarh
who were married off around three weeks ago lodged a complaint at a local police station alleging they were forced into child marriage.
The girls aged 14 and16 were married to two brothers who are adults. Following the complaint, the girls’ father was detained on Saturday while they have been sent to
Sakhi Shelter
by the local child welfare committee (
CWC
).
Officials claimed this was possibly the first case in which two sisters came together to report child marriages, though the child panel is also looking into certain anomalies which have come to light.
Hanumangarh CWC chairperson Jitendra Kumar Goyal said, “The girls were married on November 28 and recently they filed a complaint at the Mahila Thana following which we got involved. The girls stayed here with their father and paternal grandparents. The family claimed that they thought it would be good to get them married into a nice family. However, this is a case of child marriages and the father has been rounded up. Action would be taken against the husbands as well.”
However, officials claimed that the case was not as simple as it seemed as the girls’ mother, who is separated from her husband for the past many years, stays in Jaipur along with her two younger daughters.
“The child brides got in touch with their mother few days ago following which they lodged the case and now the mother wants to take them back with her to Jaipur but there appears to be something fishy about the mother’s intentions as well. Due to this, I have kept the girls at the children shelter and will be getting her history as well. We cannot just hand over the children without knowing as to how they will be kept in Jaipur”, added Goyal.