Attending a mass marriage to bless the newly wed couples has proved troublesome for former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and PCC chief Dr C P Joshi since a dozen child marriages also took place during the ceremony.

The event was organised by local Congress MLA Pramod Jain Bhaya to facilitate  different communities to hold weddings under one roof. The event was attended by a large number of locals and outsiders on April 21. The Congress leaders attended  the function only to realise later to their embarrassment that at least there were 13 minors who also tied the knot.

Though it was not for the first time that some minors were getting married in the hustle and bustle of an all-caste mass marriage function, the weddings soon took a political colour with a complaint being filed by the BJP against the Congress MLA. 

The local police have filed case against the MLA and 13 others including the convenor of the organising committee and parents of the minors under the Child Marriages Restraint Act 2006. The social welfare minister Madan Dilawar who hails from Baran immediately asked the district administration to order a probe into the incident.
The matter has been now handed over to the CID Crime Branch.