The police have pressed rape charges after the girl was found to be pregnant. (Representational)
The Navi Mumbai police in Maharashtra have registered a case against three persons, including the parents of a 16-year-old girl, from Bihar for allegedly "marrying her off" to a man, an official said today.
The police have also pressed rape charges after the girl was found to be pregnant.
The official said the girl and her family are from Bihar. The teenager was "married off" to a 35-year-old a few months ago.
The crime came to light after the girl recently visited a friend in Navi Mumbai. After learning about her illegal marriage, the friend took her to the Nhava Sheva police, who sent the minor to a child rehabilitation centre, the official said.
A health check-up at the facility revealed that the girl was four months pregnant. The police then registered a case under the Indian Penal Code for repeated rape, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The girl's parents and her “husband” have been named in the first information report (FIR), said the official, adding that the case has now been transferred to the Sitamarhi police in Bihar as the crime was committed there.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)