Hyderabad police took swift action to halt the marriage of a 17-year-old girl to a much older man, Arif Ali Baig, a Dubai-based cab driver (Photo credit: Social Media)
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad police stopped the marriage of a 17-year-old girl to a 42-year-old man in the Kalapathar area and registered a case against the groom and four others under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. Acting on information received around 6.30pm on October 2 that a minor girl was being married at Biryani Shah Tekri, Kalapathar police, along with the Charminar Zone task force and women police personnel, raided the premises and found the wedding underway. The groom, Arif Ali Baig, 42, is a resident of Jahanuma in Falaknuma and reportedly works as a cab driver in Dubai, according to police. A case was registered at Kalapathar police station under Section 10 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, against Baig, Qazi Mohd Jahangir, mediator Shaheen and the minor girl’s parents.
The girl has since enrolled in a degree college to continue her higher education, police said. Police said the intervention helped protect the girl’s rights and enabled her to continue her education. Police intervened and stopped the marriage, following which the Child Marriage Helpline was informed and a complaint was received.