A Minor Girl Was Secretly Forced Into Child Marriage In Haryana During The Lockdown. She Got Rescued But So Many Crimes Against Women Go Unreported.
Whenever my parents switch on the TV, they are constantly consuming COVID-19 updates. But that’s literally the only thing on all news channels, right? Coronavirus is like this omnipresent entity that has forced the world to leave everything aside and simply focus on making out of this pandemic alive and with as reduced loss as possible. Health workers are stretching themselves thin, officers are reporting to work even if they just delivered a child and our Government too is trying to match the pace of damage control with the damage done. Amidst all this, even terrorist activities around the world have come to a halt. Who knew? But guess what, not even a pandemic can stop crimes against women.
Women are still being raped, domestic violence cases have seen a surge, and crimes against women don’t seem to cease. Thankfully, the authorities too aren’t dismissing these cases as less important in such times. Recently, a 16-year-old girl from Burari in North Delhi got rescued after forcefully being married off to a 27-year-old in Sonepat, Haryana.
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It was due to the quick response of an NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan that the girl got rescued after her family forced the minor into marriage. The NGO’s senior manager Manish Sharma had received a lead via a WhatsApp message from an unknown number. It said that a class 10 girl was being taken away by her father amidst the lockdown to get her married. “The WhatsApp message I received was from an unknown number. It also mentioned the contact number of the girl’s father. I then shared the details with our Haryana state coordinator, who, in turn, informed the police and other state authorities,” Sharma told Hindustan Times.
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Sharma quickly alerted the Haryana leg of their NGO and also the state police and the anti-human trafficking unit of Haryana. Thankfully, the authorities wasted no time in devising the rescue plan for the minor. The girl’s father’s phone was being tracked to Gohana village in Sonepat district. The girl was rescued by the police and seven people including her father were arrested for the crime. Meanwhile, the NGO said that the minor’s marriage will be declared to be nullified by the court.
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I am so glad that they were able to rescue this young girl but so many such crimes go undiscovered and unreported. The father was so desperate to get his daughter married off. He didn’t even think about the fact that child marriage is a crime. He didn’t even care for anyone’s life getting a wedding going during the lockdown. At some point, COVID-19 will be a couple of pages in our history books. But when will our nation consider crimes against women an emergency? What about the number of women dying or living a life of torture? We are in the middle of a whole different pandemic that nobody seems to be worried about.
