MP child marriage: Constitution doesn't allow such incidents, says Panchayat Minister

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Condemning the child marriage incident in Guna where the village Panchayat fixed the wedding of a five-year-old girl to an eight-year-old boy, the state Panchayat Minister Vishwas Sarang on Saturday said that such systems are not permissible in a society.

"Such incidents are very unfortunate and not acceptable at all. These kinds of systems are neither permissible according to the Constitution nor in a society," he added.

Sarang further said that an investigation will happen and the culprits will be punished accordingly.

"Investigation will happen and if something comes up then the culprits will be punished. These things are totally unconstitutional," he asserted.

The incident happened in Tarpur village here, where the marriage of a five-year-old daughter of a villager was fixed with an eight-year-old boy by the Khiriyadangi Panchayat.

The marriage was fixed as the villagers felt that nothing ‘auspicious had happened in the village’ since the girl’s father, Jagdish Banjara, killed a calf three years back.

Banjara had hit a calf with a stone while it was feeding in his field, due to which the calf died. Following this, he and his family were boycotted by the villagers. He was also asked to take bath in the Ganges and distribute food in village.

According to the Panchayat, since the death of the calf nothing auspicious has happened in the village. Thus, as a mark of repentance, the Panchayat had arranged for Jagdish's five-year-old daughter's to be married to an eight-year-old boy.

Raising voice against the injustice, the girl's mother filed a complaint with SDM Neeraj Sharma. The officials had already given a warning to the Panchayat to not go forward with such a thing but the Panchayat was adamant on doing it.