SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad Aug 13: A groom from Rajasthan and his marriage party fled from the marriage ‘Mandap’ while marrying a minor girl as police reached the spot in a village of Dhanbad on late night of Thursday. Police are searching the marriage party and the mediators involved in the negotiation.
A police official said the marriage was being solemnized in Dhangi village under Balaipur police station of the district, around 25 km away from the district headquarters, on Thursday night. The bride was a minor ( 15 years) and while the groom was above 45 years.
Having seen an aged groom in ‘Mandap’, the bride refused to marry. But when her parents forced her to do, she got local police informed through a friend. Before the police reached the village, the groom and his marriage party including mediators who had arranged the marriage fled from the marriage Mandap.
Officer-in-charge of Baliapur police station Gopal Chandra Ghosal said that after getting a written complaint of the minor girl, the matter is being investigated. A search for the groom and his marriage party of Rajasthan is being done at the railway station, hotels, and other places.
The Officer-in-charge admitted that a syndicate of Rajasthan is active in the Baliapur block of the district who reportedly gets married to the poor minor girls after paying heavy money to their parents and sells them in Rajasthan. “ Some mediators of the region are also involved in this racket. The police have kept a close eye on them, ” he said.
Parents of the bride said they had no information about which district of Rajasthan the marriage party belonged to. However, he denied having received money for marriage.
Similar cases were also reported in Govindpur and Nirsa blocks of the district where minor girls were married to aged persons of Rajasthan.
