Minor girl from Nanjangud flees home to avoid wedding

Mysuru: A 15-year-old girl, opposing the wedding arranged forcibly by her parents and relatives, has fled from her place and  is now sheltered at the Balamandira in city. The wedding of the minor girl from Hagginavalu in Nanjangud taluk was scheduled to be held on Nov.23 at a convention hall in T. Narasipur, but the wedding was called off following intervention from the District Child Protection Officer, Child Rights activists and the Police. According to a volunteer from the Child Helpline, the minor girl was pressurised by her parents to marry her maternal uncle and the date of the wedding was also fixed. But the girl opposed the wedding saying that she was a minor. When her parents refused to listen to her, the girl fled from her village on Monday and took shelter at Srikanteshwara Temple in Nanjangud. On Tuesday, the minor girl approached the office of the Department of Women and Child Development on Hullahalli Road in Nanjangud and narrated her ordeal to the officials there and sought their help to stop her wedding. Nanjangud District Child Protection Officer Geetha Lakshmi said that they have recorded the statements of the minor girl and shifted her to the Girls’ Balamandira at Siddarthanagar in Mysuru and added that they would present the report at the Child Welfare Committee meeting. Meanwhile, the officials from the Women and Child Development have traced the parents of the minor girl and have recorded statements from them and the volunteers of the Child Helpline will be visiting the girl’s school shortly to verify her age.