Parents Of 5 & 9 Year Old Set To Marry Off Children for this Incredulous Reason in India

A horrific tradition was stopped by child safety officials, as a wedding between a boy, 9, and a five-year-old girl was about to take place in Mambapur, central India.

The Sun Uk reports that India’s Child Welfare Department showed up in the nick of time, rescuing the crying tiny bride-to-be. She was carried off into protective custody in a police Jeep. Children’s rights activist Achyuta ao from children’s help group Balala Hakkula Sangham divulged that the parents were conducting the marriage because someone had died recently in the household.

“As per their custom, no relative will enter their house after the death of a family member, unless they perform an ‘auspicious event’ and celebrate it,” he said.

Police reportedly counselled the parents of both children after the wedding was disrupted and they were all questioned. In recent times, there has been mounted pressure on the Indian government to stamp out child marriages.

In February this year, two priests were arrested after they wed their 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter in Hyderabad, as a means to increase “family prosperity”. A 14-year-old girl also recounted how she was forced to marry a man four times her age secretly, but eventually had to run away. 25 cases of minors being rescued from child marriages were reported in 2016 in Hyderabad alone, while many more cases go unreported.

Photo Credit: The Sun Uk