Investigate forced marriage between 85-year-old man and minor: HC

The High Court yesterday directed authorities to conduct an inquiry into the reported incident of forced marriage of an 85-year-old man and 11-year-old girl in Jamalpur and to submit the probe report to this court on November 29.

According to a news report published in the daily Samakal on November 21, local influentials of Bairapara village under Dewanganj upazila in Jamalpur on November 18 forced 85-year-old Mohir Uddin and 11-year-old girl to marry each other. They also tortured the elderly man at an arbitration, as his grandson Mihir Uddin allegedly raped the girl, the report said.

The HC asked the DC and super-intendent of police in Jamalpur and OC of Dewanganj Police Station to conduct the inquiry and provide victims with protection. The bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice Shahed Nuruddin came up with the suo moto order after Deputy Attorney General Abdullah Al Mahmud Bashar placed the newspaper report before the judges.