A concerned caller called 1098 and informed about child marriage that was taking place in his village. As per the caller, the girl child was a minor from Shivni District (Madhya Pradesh), a place where CHILDLINE’s intervention team was not present. The caller wanted help from CHILDLINE to stop this marriage.
CHILDLINE team after getting details from caller immediately informed Woman Empowerment Cell Officer as well as Local Police Station of Shivni district about the matter. A team comprising of CHILDLINE, representatives from Woman Empowerment Cell and Police went to the spot and met the child’s parents. The team verified the documents of the child and found that the child was only 13 years old. CHILDLINE team counselled the parents of the child, compelled them to cancel the marriage and also made them aware of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and evil consequences of Child’s marriage.
As a result of CHILDLINE’s sensitization, the girl child’s parents apologized and informed Police that they were not aware of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. The team from Woman Empowerment Cell and Police recorded the parent’s statement along with their signatures. A consent letter was taken from the child’s father that he would not marry his child before she attains the age of 18 years and also agreed to send her to school on a regular basis. Woman Empowerment Cell gave instructions to the local police to do regular follow up of the case as it might happen that parents try to arrange for that Child’s marriage again.
CHILDLINE was successful in preventing a girl child from the menace of child marriage.
