Police stop wedding of minor girl in Bengal groom bride's father among 8 held

Kolkata, Jan 6 (PTI) The police stopped the wedding involving a minor girl in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, and arrested eight people, including the groom and members of both families, a senior officer said on Tuesday.
    The wedding was scheduled between a 22-year-old man, Ariful Molla of Baharu in Jaynagar, and a minor girl from Kultali, police said, adding that preparations for the ceremony had been made with much fanfare.
    Acting on specific information that the bride was underage, a team from Kultali police station, along with officials of the Child Welfare Department, reached the venue on Monday night and stopped the ceremony, the officer said.
    The police picked up the groom, the girl’s father, her uncle, the groom’s maternal uncle, and three other family members, taking the total number of arrests to eight.
    During questioning, the groom claimed that he was not aware of the girl’s age, police said.
    The minor has been brought to the police station, and authorities are probing whether the family was forcing her into the marriage, the officer added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)