Bengaluru: A 21-year-old man took a 17-year-old girl from her home and tied the knot at a hill shrine before taking her to Chikkamagaluru, following which her mother approached police seeking action.According to the complaint filed by the mother, a resident of Yelahanka, her daughter was born in Dec 2008 and is pursuing an ITI course at a college in Chikkaballapur. She was at home on Sept 17 as her college was closed.The mother said she had gone to a hospital that evening as she had fallen sick and returned home around 6.45pm to find her daughter missing. On making inquiries, she learnt that her daughter had been taken away by a youth residing in the same area.The youth brought the girl back to his house on Sept 19. The mother was alerted about it by the youngster’s brother. When the girl’s family visited their house to get their daughter back, the girl told her mother that she had known the youth for about a year and that he had been pressuring her to enter into a relationship with him.On Sept 17, he visited their house and persuaded her to accompany him, saying he would die if she did not go with him. The youth took the girl to Akkayyamma Betta in Chikkajala around 5pm. In front of the deity, he tied a yellow thread with a turmeric root around her neck and put toe rings on her, declaring that they were husband and wife.He then took her by bus to Chikkamagaluru before returning. The girl’s mother alleged that the youth knew her daughter was a minor but still persuaded her to leave home and went through the marriage ceremony.Chikkajala police have registered a case under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, and for kidnapping under BNS, and have arrested the youth. The accused maintained that he and the girl were in love and that he took her after she agreed to elope with him.
