Police book UAE national for marrying minor girl

A UAE national, who forcibly married a 17-year-old girl, has been booked by police along with nine others amid outcry over the menace of forcing minor Muslim girls into wedlock.
Police yesterday booked UAE national Jasim Mohammed Abdul Kareem who hails from Ras al-Khaimah, his mother and the authorities of the Kozhikode-based orphanage under Prohibition of Child Marriage Act-2006, the Juvenile Justice Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, an official today said.
The plight of the minor girl came to light after she approached the Child Welfare Committee complaining that the orphanage authorities where she was staying forced her to marry the man on June 13.

Kareem, who sexually abused the girl at various places in Kerala, returned to his country on July 1.
The girl received a telephone call from her husband on August 6 to hear from him that he has divorced her.
The police registered the case after the State Human Rights Commission directed the state police chief and Social Justice Department to probe the matter and submit the report.

The girl had also sent her complaint to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, state Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran and Union Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed today.

Police said they have transferred the case to Chemmangad police in Kozhikode district where the offence took place for further probe.
However, the orphanage authorities have rejected the allegation and claimed that the girl had consented to the marriage.
Women activists, political leaders and NGOs in Kerala, who expressed outrage over the girl's plight, demanded a legislation to check the social menace of 'Arabi Kalyanam' (Arab wedding), in which minor Muslim girls are forced into marriage with Arab nationals.