AMBALA: The district police have arrested four accused on charges of marrying off a minor girl. The police received a tip-off on phone from a member of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Haryana that a minor girl was being married at the Rangia Mandi, Ambala Cantonment After receiving the information, a police team raided the place and demanded to see the date of birth proof of the girl identified as Kajal, in which it was found that the girl was only fifteen years old. The police team arrested four accused in connection with the case and registered a case at Parao police station.On the complaint of Arwinderjit Kaur, protection and child marriage prohibition officer (special cell women police), Ambala, the Parao police have registered a case under section 9 (punishment for male adult marrying a child), 10 (punishment for solemnising a child marriage) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code against four accused. The arrested accused have been identified as Anil (bridegroom), Vikram (Anil's elder brother), and Harikesh (father of Anil and Vikram), residents of Indira Colony, district Jind and Rajbala, resident of Ambala Cantonment.Investigation officer of the case, sub-inspector Satinder said a member of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Paramjit Singh Badola informed an officer Arwinderjit Kaur of special cell women police, Ambala about the incident of child marriage over the phone. Badola and Arwinderjit led a team from Parao police station to the spot where the marriage was taking place.In the complaint, Arwinderjit stated, "In the initial interrogation, it came forward that Kajal’s mother is a widow and she has four children, three girls and a boy. The children's father had died three years ago, after which Rajbala started working as a maid at different homes in the area. Kajal's elder sister, Hema Rani is married and lives in Jind with his husband Vikram, where Kajal had shifted a year ago and is studying in class ten in a school. Accused Harikesh is the father-in-law of Hema. Rajbala fixed Kajal’s marriage with Hema’s brother-in-law Anil and Saturday was the wedding day of Anil and Kajal."Arwinderjit stated that Rajbala had lied to the inspection team that it was only the engagement function, and not the marriage, whereas the team inspected the set up at the place, which proved that it was a marriage function. Hence, a complaint in this regard was registered with the Parao police.Satinder said, "We arrested four accused in this case who were presented before the court and as per court orders, they have been released on bail on Sunday."

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