UP chairman 'helps arrange' child marriage

A union parishad chairman allegedly assisted in arranging a child marriage in Rajshahi on Monday.

Locals said parents took a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl from Bhallukgachhi village of Durgapur upazila to neighbouring Somaspara village in Bagmara upazila. Later, the two were married off at the house of one Abdus Samad, a relative of Goalkandi UP Chairman Alamgir Sarker. 

Dayem Uddin Sardar, a madrasa teacher who conducted the marriage, told local reporters that he acted on the order of the UP chairman.

Alamgir refuted the allegation. He said, "It's true that Samad is my relative. But why would I order anyone to arrange a child marriage?"

He claimed that he learnt about the marriage after visiting Samad's home later on. "We are working to find out the culprits," he said.