Officials raise concern over inter-state marriages

Child Development Project Officers of Mangalore urban and rural areas have expressed concern over poor women from villages getting married to unknown men from Gujarat and other North Indian states.

There is a racket functioning in the district where the parents, out of poverty get their daughters married off to unknown men.

At a review meeting of Women and Child Welfare department programmes at tahsildar’s office in the city on Tuesday, Mangalore Urban CDPO Gulabi said that such instances were reported in Paduperar village. 

The bride and groom and their family meet for a brief time and the next day wedding is fixed. Girl’s family who get the proposal through a broker do not even opt for background check of the groom and his family due to poverty and inconvenience.

Wedding takes place in a hurry as per the tradition, but does not get registered. The girl who goes to her husband’s house will be treated like a slave and returns to her parents after a year. The marriage is not valid as it is not registered, she said.

Mangalore Rural CDPO Shyamala too echoed her point and said that such cases were reported in Moodbidri too. “It is not that all those grooms who marry the girls from here are fraudsters. The girls’ families should ensure that the marriage is registered,” she said.

Further, CDPO said that the women and child welfare department prevented seven child marriages in 2013 -14 and two marriages this year, based on a tip off. Tahsildar Mohan Rao chaired the meeting.