Hall owners asked to verify birth documents to prevent child marriages in Maharashtra's Hingoli

The management of wedding halls in Maharashtra`s Hingoli has been asked to verify birth or school transfer certificates of would-be brides and grooms to curb child marriages. Representational Pic/Fil/iStock

The officials in Hingoli district of Maharashtra have asked the management of wedding halls to verify birth or school transfer certificates of would-be brides and grooms to curb child marriages in the district, the PTI reported.

A release issued by district collector Rahul Gupta highlighted occasional anomalies in the Aadhaar cards submitted before marriage and original birth certificates.

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"Considering such instances, the wedding hall offices should ask for either the birth certificate or the school transfer certificate during the booking process of the marriage ceremony," the release says, according to the PTI.

In the past, several districts in the state has witnessed cases of child marriages.

In February this year, the authorities had foiled a family's attempt to marry off a 16-year-old girl in Maharashtra's Thane district, the officials had earlier said, PTI had reported.

The Pune's child welfare department office had received an anonymous call, following which authorities in Thane stopped the marriage ceremony in the Ulhasnagar area on February 26.

The minor girl was about to get married to a 24-year-old man residing in Solapur.

According to a previous PTI report, after being alerted, the child welfare committee officials in Thane immediately rushed to the venue where family members from both sides and guests had assembled for the wedding ceremony, Thane district child welfare officer Ramkrishna Reddy had earlier said.

After halting the ceremony, the officials held a meeting with the parents of the girl and the man.

During questioning, they revealed that the girl's father was seriously ill and hence, the family wanted to get her married at the earliest, the official said.

A case has been registered against the groom, both their parents, the priest who was conducting the ceremony and others under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, he said.

In an another incident in September last year, the Thane city police had registered an FIR against 11 persons, including a 31-year-old woman from Pune, over the illegal marriage of her minor daughter.

The 13-year-old girl was married to a man from Mumbra in Thane district on August 8 despite objections from the teenager's father, the Thane city police official had earlier said.

The girl's father first approached the Child Welfare Officer and the FIR was registered on September 25 on his directions.

The 11 individuals, including the man who married the minor and his relatives, were booked under the Prevention of Child Marriage Act, the Thane city police official had said.

(with PTI inputs)