Tamil Nadu police in Salem have initiated a search to apprehend a 45-year-old woman who allegedly attempted to arrange a child marriage for her daughter. The woman purportedly sought to wed her daughter to a minibus driver on March 23.





 











The police said that a Class 10 girl was illegally 'wedded' to Vinod (35), a minibus driver, on March 23 at a temple in Mettur.


Vinod comes from Adaikanur village in Omalur, close to Coimbatore, while the girl resides in Puduchampali village near Mettur.


On Wednesday, Lalitha, the Child Welfare officer of Salem District, received an anonymous complaint. She and her team promptly launched an investigation, confirming that the marriage took place on March 23, as per a report on IANS.


The Child Welfare Officer filed a complaint with the Omalur All Woman Police station in Salem, leading to a case being registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO).


Vinod was apprehended on Wednesday evening, and authorities are actively searching for the mother of the victim.


Salem, Dindigul Top In Preventing Child Marriages


The data obtained through the Right to Information Act from the Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department has revealed that Dindigul and Salem districts have been leading in preventing child marriages in Tamil Nadu for the past three years, from January 2021 to February 2024, according to a report on The New Indian Express.


However, despite this achievement, the number of Community Service Registers (CSRs) and First Information Reports (FIRs) filed on child marriage cases was significantly lower than the actual number of incidents prevented due to the intervention of authorities, as indicated by the data. Advocate and child rights activist S Prabhakar obtained the RTI data from the Commissionerate of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department.


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