Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seems to have courted controversy by attending a mass marriage ceremony at Balaganura village in the taluk on Tuesday.
Some of those who tied the knot in the programme were below the legal age for marriage.
Siddaramaiah took part in a programme organised by the Kencharaya temple committee, in which 42 couples entered into wedlock. Of these, 16 girls were later found to be children.
Following a complaint, Vasudeva Tolabandi, president of the district child welfare committee, and Sunanda of the district children’s helpline rushed to the spot. Based on their complaint, Ramesh Rathod, senior dentist of the government hospital in the town, examined the teeth of the couple.
Following the test, it was confirmed that the 16 brides were underage.
Sindhu Badigera, the incharge child development project officer of the women and child development department, said that they had no information about the child marriage.
She said her office had received on May 9 a list of 51 names for clearance for the mass marriage programme. Of these, the names of seven girls had been rejected as they were underage, Badigera said.
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