Cops foil child marriage in Ctg

Police yesterday foiled a child marriage in Satkania upazila of Chattogram district.

On information from locals, a team led by Officer-in-Charge (OC) Rafiqul Islam of Satkania Police Station stopped the marriage of Shamsul Kabir's fifteen-year-old daughter with one Shahab Uddin, son of Fazal Karim of the same area.

The OC called the parents of both the bride and groom and told them about the demerits of child marriage and the legal restrictions.

Later, he also sent police force to the marriage function.

When the bride's father got to know about the disadvantage and legal bar, he realised his fault and promised not to take steps for his daughter's marriage before she turns eighteen.

In Bangladesh, the minimum legal age of marriage is eighteen years for girls and twenty one for boys. However, the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 includes exceptions where court can allow child marriage in “special cases”. It was widely criticised.c