Underage girl 'forced' to marry stalker at Ramu
An alleged stalker of South Mitachhari village of Joarianala union of Ramu upazila in Cox's Bazar who was supposed to be punished for his reported offence has got rewarded instead.
Locals alleged that a class IX student of Ramu Girls' High School was “forcefully”' married off with her alleged stalker in presence of some officials of the local administration as they found it as a better solution to the problem although the government pursues a tougher stand against stalking and early marriage.
They said the marriage was solemnised in a simple ceremony at the Ramu Upazila Parishad Auditorium. “This is like an injustice by a justice,” said Amir Hossain Helali, founding president of Ramu Press Club.
He said Shahedul Mostafa, son of Bashir Ahmed of Tekpara, used to harass the girl on her way to and back from school. On March 10, the boy was caught by other students of the school while disturbing the girl on her way back home. Later, he was handed over to the Ramu Police Station.
According to him, Office-in-Charge (OC) of Ramu Police Station AKM Najibul Alam sent the boy to the office of the executive magistrate. “After a five-hour long high drama, the girl was married off with the stalker.”
Contacted over cell phone, OC AKM Najibul Alam confirmed about the marriage saying that the boy and the girl were in fact in love. Insisted why he did not take steps to resist the marriage of such an underage girl, the OC said, “No one came to me with any complaint.”
Asked whether he has any knowledge about such incident, UNO Shaheed Mohammad Saidul Haque said, “They came (girl's family members) to us with a complaint of eave-teasing, but after preliminary interrogation it became clear that they were in love. When the question of resolving the issue through marriage came, then I said it can't be done as the girl is underage. And I don't know what happened after that.”
When her attention was drawn, human rights activist Salma Ali, also executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) said: “This is dangerous. We'll investigate it once we get the details.”
She said, “Although there's a rising tide of protest and a law in place, early marriage still thrives in Bangladesh, pushing girls into a cycle of poverty, illiteracy and serious health problems.
Salma Ali said child marriage is not illegal from a religious point of view, but it is unlawful, according to the law of the land. “If the laws were properly implemented, a great number of child marriages would have been stopped. The Quazi (marriage registrar), in many cases, complete all marriage formalities, in exchange for money, without considering the age of the brides,” she added.
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