Parents marry off minor girl to moneylender; case registered

In a shocking incident, parents of a minor girl hailing from a remote village at Nedumkandam in Kerala's Idukki district allegedly married off their daughter to a man more than double her age to clear off a debt taken from him.
Based on the complaint lodged by the girl's paternal uncle Kannan, police registered a case against her father Tirupati, mother Krishnaveni and the 35-year-old groom Selvakumar under various sections of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.
The 15-year-old girl, a ninth standard student studying in a local school here, was allegedly married off to Selvakumar, hailing from the neighbouring Theni district of Tamil Nadu, a move to get the loan written off.

The marriage is said to have taken place at the groom's house in Veerapandi in Theni on Tuesday. Kerala Police has already reached the place to trace the couple.
Quoting the complaint, police said the girl's parents had borrowed some cash from Selvakumar and as they failed to give back the money on time, they were forced to marry the girl off to the man following his demand.
Police said as the marriage was alleged to have taken place in Theni, a team of Kerala Police are already in Theni to take up the issue with their counterparts there.
Nedumkandam Circle Inspector N Babukuttan, who is now in Theni, told PTI over phone that the facts could be ascertained only after finding out the girl and her parents and a search was on to locate them.

"We are now at Veerapandi in Theni district. We have informed the matter to the local police here. We have to find out the girl and her parents first. Then only, we can arrive at a conclusion in this," he said.