Prevention of an young girl from getting married till the age of 18

Prevention of an young girl from getting married till the age of 18

On 28th February 2021, Our Project staff Bithika Mondal was informed by a CVC member that the marriage of a girl, aged 17 years, named Amrita Biswas (name changed) was fixed by her father Sahadev(name changed) in Kumarkhali village in Canning-1 Block.
On getting the news, Bithika, along with the CVC member Ms. Halima Mondal met the girl’s father, and tried to convince him that Amrita being below 18, should not be married off now. He was informed that any marriage that below the age of 18 is considered to be a child marriage and is prohibited as well as punishable under the Indian law. Unfortunately, the father was reluctant to stop the marriage. At this point, our project staff had no other alternative but to tell the father that unless the marriage is stopped, they will report the case to local police station and law would take it own course.
With the help of our Project Staff and CVC members a meeting was organized between the girl’s family and the groom’s parents. After a prolonged discussion, both families agreed to wait till Amrita turned 18 and then they would solemnise the marriage after that.