14-year-old forcibly married, carried off by her husband in Karnataka

Bengaluru: A video of a 14-year-old girl being forcibly carried off by a man emerged in Karnataka leading to the arrests of four adults including her husband on Thursday.

The girl, hailing from the small village of Thimmathu in the Thottamanju mountain area near Tamil Nadu's Hosur, is dropped out of school after Class 7, NDTV reported.

Her mother forcibly married her off to a 29-year-old labourer from the mountain village of Kalikuttai in Karnataka.

Her wedding with Madesh is reported to have taken place in Bengaluru on March 3 despite her protests.

The girl returned to her home village of Thimmathur, refusing to go back to the marital home.

The video emerged on Wednesday and showed Madesh and his elder brother Mallesh, 38, forcibly carrying her off to Kalikuttai village.

An onlooker filmed the incident and uploaded it on social media which quickly went viral.

After the girl’s grandmother filed a complaint, police arrested Madesh and his brother Mallesh along with the girl’s mother Nagamma who allegedly married the girl off to Madesh.

The All-Women Police Station in Denkanikottai is now investigating further details of the incident. The girl is now living with her grandparents.

Police have charged four persons with various sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) and Child Marriage Act.

Marriage of a woman under the age of 18 is illegal as per the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.

However, child marriage is still prevalent especially in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, according to NDTV.

Authorities in Karnataka received information about 180 child marriages in the state as per the data for 2023- 2024.

It is reported that they were able to prevent 105 child marriages while filing cases in the remaining 75 incidents.