A teacher was arrested for allegedly tricking a minor girl into marrying him in the Gangavaram Mandal area of Chittoor district. The accused, Chalapathy (33-year-old) who used to work in a private inter-college was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, said a police official.
SI Sudhakar Reddy told news agency ANI that the girl has her final exams on Wednesday post which the accused took her to Tirupati while tricking her with lies. He told the minor that he was honest and asked her to trust him and that he will look after her properly. He added, "They both got married in a temple in Tirupati. Later only, the girl noticed Chalapathy's change in behaviour. Then the girl informed her parents about the whole incident after which the girl with her parents reached the Gangavaram police station on Thursday night and filed an FIR."
The accused was already married and has a daughter out of that marriage, reported ANI. However, despite that, he got involved with a 17-year-old girl who was studying in class 12.
The accused was arrested under POSCO Act and was produced before a court, said a police official.
In another case of child marriage, a 17-year-old girl in Assam’s Cachar district allegedly died by suicide because she was scared of her family members getting arrested under the Assam government's crackdown against child marriages, the Hindustan Times reported.
According to the deceased's mother, the minor was willing to marry an older man but, due to the fear of the crackdown, she died by suicide in February. However, the police have denied the claims saying her suicide could be due to some other reasons.
Police said that the incident happened in Raj Nagar in Dholai, where they recovered her body from a tree close to her home on February 4.