Kozhikode:
After an appeal for justice made by a 17-year-old teen who was forced to marry a UAE national by a Muslim orphanage in Kerala, police have arrested three accused in the case.
The mother of the Arab national, her second husband and a relative were arrested late last night under Prohibition of Child Marriage Act-2006, Juvenile Justice Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Police investigation has also verified that the orphanage in Kozhikode, where she was living, was aware that the girl was under-aged for marriage.
She has alleged that the UAE national and her former husband took her to different tourist resorts, raped her and abandoned her on his return to UAE on June 30, withing 19 days of being married. She was informed of the divorce in August by a phone call.
Police action came in the wake of a directive by the State Human Rights Commission, which had directed the State Police Chief and Social Justice Department to probe the matter and submit a report.
The girl had also sent her complaint to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran and Union Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed.
Expressing outrage over the minor's plight, women activists, political leaders and NGOs in Kerala have demanded a legislation to check the social menace of 'Arabi Kalyanam' (Arab wedding), in which minor Muslim girls are forced into marriage with Arab nationals.